December 20, 2008 - Annual Number 2008

What has Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to gain by extending an apology to the country for having failed to prevent the terrorist strikes the people here have fallen victim to time and again? True, the terrorist strikes in Mumbai, where a handful of young militants kept life in the financial pulse of the nation at stake for around three days, deserve the strongest condemnation possible. At the same time, despite the concerned authorities having received warnings much ahead of the (…)

As the year 2008, a tumultuous one by any standard and also a very sad one so far as India’s polity and economy are concerned, is drawing to a close, one feels tempted to look back at the catastrophic effects that the politicians, belonging to the Congress, BJP, Left and some other regional parties, have brought on this country. Leading this pack of mavericks is no doubt Manmohan Singh whose disastrous economic policy—kowtowing to the forces of globalisation and thus pushing the so long (…)

The election results of the five States that went to polls in the last month have made quite a few interesting, even stunning, revelations on the Indian electorate’s maturity, farsightedness and cool judgement. It has restored to the Congress party some of its old respectability and durability in the first few decades after independence and confirmed the people’s trust in this middle-of-the-road party ignoring its recent failures on the security front in favour of its long term perspective (…)

The results of the ‘semi-final‘ elections appears to bring no real cheer to any of the major political parties. The Congress can heave a sigh of relief that it retained Delhi and has come agonisingly close to the half-way mark in Rajasthan. Mizoram has been a political windfall for the party. For the BJP, its hope for a clean sweep did not materialise as Delhi did not fall in its lap (as it had expected) and Rajasthan clearly slipped away. Given our highly centralised party systems, it is (…)

“Will Mayawati do an ‘Obama’ on India?” —this question deserves an answer keeping in view the projected march of the ‘elephant’ in the ongoing Assembly elections and the grace with which the US election concluded. Maywati is arrogantly aggressive in power, not sparing any rival from her pithy slangings. In the USA, not only was the vanquished gracious to the elected, the victor too crossed the narrow boundaries of partisanship to put together the best team. This has been missing in India (…)

Piracy refers to a broad range of activities associated with violence on the seas. It is said to be the third oldest profession in the world. Terrorism often uses violence to bring about a change in society. The modern day pirates have left their mark on international maritime trade and changed our views on piracy. In recent times piracy has undergone a sea change and exponential growth. In the last few years the incidents of piracy at sea have greatly increased, with the warlords of Somalia (…)

On December 13, 2007 the Census of India has released the Language Data of Census 2001, after an incomprehensible delay of more than six years. It is yet to be published in book form but it is available on the official website of the Registrar General of India (censusindia.gov.in) and on CD. The Census covers 22 Scheduled Languages and 86 Non-Scheduled Languages.
Language-wise Break-up of Population 2001: Position of Urdu
ACCORDING to the available data, the number of persons who (…)

Over the last few months a number of measures have been taken by the Government of India in order to deal with the effects of the acute and far-reaching financial and economic crisis and onset of recession in the rich industrialised countries. The basic thrust of these steps has been to improve the liquidity of the financial system by releasing the funds of the banks impounded with the RBI, to lower the rate of interest and restore confidence in the solvency of the banks. Luckily the (…)

“Whoever fights monsters shall see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.” —Nietzsche
The monster attacked us again, this time in Mumbai, with all its force. In perhaps the most well-planned operation the terrorists engaged the security forces for more than two days, costing us some 200 lives, besides heavy losses in material terms and wealth. This particular attack has led to a countrywide anger and (…)

China’s renewed intransigence over the Dalai Lama and Arunachal suggests, on the one hand, a post-Olympics accretion of confidence following the success of her spectacular performance and, on the other, a general nervousness induced by the global financial crisis. Tibet is in any case a seething cauldron of discontent, inviting a massive post-Olympics crackdown at home and abroad, while on the mainland businesses have closed and there is a significant rise in urban unemployment. Indeed, the (…)