By suddenly inviting debate on the interlocutors report on Jammu and Kashmir, especially its startling suggestion to restore the State’s pre-1953 status, the Congress Party has virtually disowned the actions of its longest serving Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, thus diminishing the legitimacy and stature of the political dynasty descended from … Read More
India’s proposal that the United Nations appoint a 50-member watchdog body to regulate the internet has elicited some sharply divergent opinions. One side maintains that the proposed Committee for Internet Related Polices (CIRP), which would oversee all Internet standards bodies and rule on all Internet-related disputes, is a draconian measure … Read More
Non-Western nations have long known that non-governmental organizations, ostensibly set up to provide humanitarian services to citizens in their respective countries, such as against police or other public authorities, fighting poverty or environmental degradation, are funded by foreign regimes to serve their agendas. They are in that sense a tool … Read More
Making homage at all the sacred sites associated with the Buddha, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsiang) encountered the moving story of Hamsa Stupa, situated on a mountain in the vicinity of Rajgriha, where King Bimbisara and his people welcomed the Buddha after he had attained enlightenment. The monks of … Read More
After running the gamut of destructive vote-harvesting ideas like non-repayable loan melas and farm-loan waivers that brought little relief or advancement to intended beneficiaries, the Congress party has discovered education as the new mantra to entice the masses and defer accountability for non-performance. The promise of universal free education up … Read More
It is now obvious that the controversy over the Army Chief’s date of birth had one goal – to install in position persons considered useful by politicians, bureaucrats, and officers linked to the arms lobby. The Supreme Court erred grievously when it forced Gen. VK Singh to withdraw his petition. … Read More
Credit for the successful Sri Ram Navami Shobha Yatra in Hyderabad on 1 April 2012 must be given where it is due – to the devotees who sought to demonstrate that no city in the punya bhumi of Bharat can diminish or expel Sri Rama merely because it has a … Read More
The birth anniversary of 24th Tirthankara Sri Mahavir Ji is an appropriate occasion to ponder how this tiny faith successfully tamed the natural impulses of human hedonism and emerged as a sparkling exemplar of the Indian civilisational spectrum. India’s native traditions lie embedded in a common geographical and spiritual-cultural matrix, … Read More
In an extremely myopic manoeuvre aimed at pleasing the world gendarme, India aborted all chances of rising as a regionally respected power by supporting the US-led resolution to censure Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Commission for alleged war crimes against civilians in the climax to its prolonged war … Read More
Recent elections in five states showed voters rejecting the undemocratic political culture of the two major national parties, where central leaders with declining ability to harvest votes have promoted a politics of patronage and entitlement, indifferent to the needs and aspirations of voters. Both parties lie battered. The Bharatiya Janata … Read More
