January 26, 2008

[Whether it be the suicide bombers of LTTE or the jihadists of Al Qaeda or ET guerillas working for a Basque region or the remnants of the Khalistani terrorists or for that matter terrorism unleashed by groups owning allegiance to the Hindutva brigade, the phenomenon of terrorism could be said to span every community or country in different measures.
India has also of late witnessed a spurt in terrorist attacks. Recently we were told India stands among the top five countries of the world (…)

A multidimensional charade is taking place in Pakistan, and it is not an edifying sight. Pervez Musharraf has discarded his uniform and is trying to cling to power, whatever the cost.
So far it has been high: the dismissal of the Supreme Court judges and their replacement by stooges; police brutality against a strong lawyers’ movement protesting the military assault on the judiciary; and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan as part of an ill-judged deal (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Political Violence and the Police in India by K.S. Subramanian; Sage Publication India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi; pages 257; Price 350/-
When an insider writes about an organisation which he had served throughout his career and with which he had had a fairly complex love-hate relationship, one would have expected a light delectable anecdotal fare. Surprisingly, the reader would find in this book a serious analysis of the character of the Indian state which our rulers inherited (…)

Recently, the modern epic sculpture on the freedom struggle by Debi Prasad Roy Choudhury, a tribute to the 1931 Dandi March led by Gandhiji in the imposing bronze Gyaran Murti at Willingdon Crescent in New Delhi, was mounted by The Times of India, for an advertising blitz ‘seeking India’s future leaders’ called ‘Lead India’. Gandhiji of the original sculpture was replaced by a morphed graphic figure of a young man braced up in a designer shirt-belt-trouser outfit, having as it were, just (…)

The most important religions and philosophies talk of equality between people. Yet, equality is hardly the defining feature of even those societies that are influenced by such ideas. In fact, over time, most societies have moved towards accepting the idea that we have to live with growing inequality. In the past thirty years material inequality has grown to reach levels seen earlier in the 1930s. India is a land of extreme contrasts with the second highest number of billionaires and the (…)

The International Committee of the National Geographic Channel defines watershed on the basis of the criterion that the effect of overland flow rather than the effect of channel flow is a dominating factor affecting the peak runoff. On larger watersheds, the effect of channel flow or the basin storage effect becomes very pronounced so that such sensitivities are greatly suppressed.
Planning and development of watersheds call for a rigorous understanding of the occurrence and movement of (…)

What transformations politics and public life can bring about! And in democracies particularly. Leaders once reviled, jeered at and abused become heroes and icons. Leaders once hero-worshipped end up defamed, defiled and denigrated. Some rare souls have the privilege of being a pendulum swinging from one side to another, and getting away with it!
We have many examples in world history and in our own. Quick-change artists have, of course, met with ridicule for their opportunism and even (…)

Addressing the Sixth Pravasi Bhartiya Divas meet on January 7, 2008, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, announced the establishment of the PM’s Global Advisory Council of People of Indian Origin, launched the Overseas Workers Resource Centre and assured the 1500 delegates from 50 countries that ‘your security and welfare is our priority’. He also mooted an idea to set up an India Development Foundation to direct overseas Indian philanthropic effort into human development activities in (…)