March 8, 2008

In the midst of the national euphoria generated by the cricket triumphs recorded by the Indian seniors and U-19 cubs in Australia and Kuala Lumpur we are observing the International Women’s Day on March 8.
On this occasion one needs to give more than a cursory and one-time attention to the most vital problem relating to womenfolk in general: the subject of ‘missing women’ due to the abhorrent practice of female foeticide (through the use of highly advanced techniques of sex determination (…)

IS THIS BIZARRE BULL OF MARXIST SUPER-PRAGMATIC DISCOVERY A TRAGEDY, TRAVESTY OR ‘HISTORIC BLUNDER’?
Socialists of India unite! You have nothing to lose except a few crypto-capitalist super-pragmatic Marxists. You have a creative crimson destiny to gain and a billion-strong have-not humanity to win! Why then, do you, sage comrades of Marxian vintage, renege and hug a capitalist sorceries. With a cornucopia of Socialists, Communists, Marxists, rich in daring cadres and leaders committed to (…)

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s Budget 2008-09 has aroused widespread interest in the methods of saving our small and marginal farming families from indebtedness and acute economic distress, which lead to occasional suicides. The steps proposed in the Budget will give relief to nearly four crore farmers, at an estimated outlay of Rs 60,000 crores. As stressed by Mr Chidambaram, this is a major step in recognising the indebtedness of the country to farm families who, through their toil in (…)

This was supposed to be a “people-friendly” Budget. After all, the government has completed nearly four years of its tenure and this was almost its last chance to make good on its promises to the people in the National Common Minimum Programme. And then, general elections are due after a year. So even the most basic political sense should have ensured a Union Budget with allocations that would benefit the people.
But the surprise is that, going beyond the verbiage of the budget speech, (…)

It’s like a political rope trick, Chidambaram’s maiden Budget as the Finance Minister of the United Front Government. Everyone from V.P. Singh and Somnath Chatterjee to the captains of the corporate giants have praised it and the Finance Minister coiuld go home in peace, as he has been anointed by the media as “Thiruvalluvar’s Disciple”. Indeed a long way that the young politician has travelled from the day when he promptly quit as the Commerce Minister to avoid being invoked in the affairs (…)

It is beyond dispute that, in recent decades, the prosperity of a large segment of the Indian middle and upper classes has increased rapidly. With accelerating average annual rate of economic growth, these segments have cornered most of its fruits. Looking at high-rise buildings, opening of fashionable malls and the increasing number of four-wheelers in towns and cities, one may easily discern this.
With this growing prosperity, however, has come a sense of insecurity to haunt the (…)

Economists and various studies conducted across the globe envisage India and China to rule the world in the 21st century. For over a century the United States has been the largest economy in the world but major developments have taken place in the world economy since then, leading to the shift of focus from the US and the rich countries of Europe to the two Asian giants—India and China.
For the year 2006-07 India’s GDP grew at an impressive 9.2 per cent. The share of different sectors of (…)

Although the decentralised approach for governance and development had gained wide recognition in India even before independence, it was only as late as in 1992 that this approach got the much needed constitutional recognition with the enactment of the 73rd Constitution Amend-ment Act. In order to institutionalise participatory democracy and decentralised planning in the rural areas, Article 243G mandates that the panchayats should prepare plans for ‘economic development and social justice’ (…)

Introduction
March 8 happens to be the International Women’s Day. To mark the occasion the following article is being published to focus attention on a societal problem involving women’s dignity and safety.
The recent disgraceful molestation incident of two non-resident Indian (NRI) young women by the rowdy mob on New Year’s Day outside the J.W. Marriot hotel at Juhu, Mumbai, has shocked the nation. The incident terrifies most of us because it shows the fragility of the protection that (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Political and Incorrect: The Real India, Warts and All by Tavleen Singh; Harper Collins, New Delhi; 2008.
Here comes a compilation of articles by Tavleen Singh, who needs no introduction to the journalist fratenity in the country. The book covers a wide terrain—her insights from 1987 till the present time. Her writing style is lucid and explicit. The issues chosen for this book are of foremost concern today like Mayawati’s ascendancy to the throne, the Uphaar tragedy, (…)