Ofthe multiple agreements signed between India and China during Dr ManmohanSingh’s recent visit, the Memorandum of Understanding on roads (NationalHighways) and road transportation has a modest objective of promoting thesharing of knowledge, experience and cooperation in transportation technologyand policy, and construction and management of highwa
Ona damp Friday morning 11 days into the government shutdown, a “few dozen”truckers took to the Capital Beltway in a demonstration with the Twitterhashtag #T2SDA (Truckers to Shut Down America). They wanted to telllawmakers they were angry, launch an impeachment campaign against thepresident, and pressure Congress to end itself. Theywere
Along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputedstate of Jammu and Kashmir, Indian troops have been engaged now for more than amonth, battling terrorists who are infiltrating from Pakistan. India claimedthat rebel incursions into Kashmir have risen over the past year, feeding anarmed revolt there. Early this week, at a press conference in Srinagar,
The so-called dispute vis-à-vis Jammu andKashmir has two aspects. First, the external factor which involves Pakistan andChina, though Bangladesh as a splinter of Pakistan is a shareholder in theso-called dispute. Second, the internal insecurity prevailing in the Indian Stateof J&K because of regional imbalances and discrimination at various lev
The world’s busiest pilgrimage center; hundredper cent % Hindu in character and identity; great religious, cultural andeducational hub; rich in Hindu Temples and educational institutions - that isTirupati! Ancient temples and the sacred Swarnamuki River assert the characterand identity of this magnificent place. People owe their existence to Bhagwa
Aftermuch dilly dallying, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sangh Parivar finallydecided grudgingly to bet on Narendra Modi for winning power in Delhi. They hadno option but to endorse Modi given the support he has on the ground and thewidespread perception that the BJP leadership in Delhi is compromised. TheModi candidature ends a decade
(A review of Mediastan, AWikileaks Road Movie; screened forthe first time in the London Raindance Film Festival October 1, 2013, and in aMoscow Festival a week later) A diverse gang of five journalists intheir early thirties ride a car through deserts and high mountains of CentralAsia. Amidst breathtaking scenery, they cross impassable tu
As the arc of Maoist violence engulfs Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and West Bengal, the Centre would do well to undo the Supreme Court’s July 2011 judgment that scuttled the Salwa Judum resistance movement against Naxal atrocities in Chhattisgarh. In tacit recognition of the infirmity of this verdict, the Centre last month asked the Odisha govern...
What is a dictator, or an authoritarian? I’llbet you think you know. But perhaps you don’t. Sure, Adolf Hitler, JosephStalin, and Mao Zedong were dictators. So were Saddam Hussein and both Hafezand Bashar al Assad. But in many cases the situation is not that simple andstark. In many cases the reality -- and the morality -- of the situation is farmo
|
by
Hari Om
|
on
20 Oct 2013
|
7 Comments
|
Thousands of Hindus,mostly Dalits, migrated to Jammu from West Pakistan in the wake of the communalpartition of India in August 1947 to save their lives, dignity and culture.Ever since then, they have been struggling very hard to obtain citizenshiprights in order to lead a dignified life as Indian citizens and enjoy all therights available under th
The War on Terrorism … or whatever. “US hopes of winningmore influence over Syria’s divided rebel movement faded Wednesday [Oct 2 - ed] after 11 of the biggest armed factionsrepudiated the Western-backed political opposition coalition and announced theformation of an alliance dedicated to creating an Islamist state. Theal-Qaeda-affiliated Jab
It is eight years since the Right to InformationAct came into being for the citizens. I repeat, for the citizens, because it cameinto force on June 15, 2005 but could not be used by citizens because the first120 days were given exclusively to the public authorities to prepare themselvesand their documents for responding to citizens. But what
The US government is paralyzed,and we now face the possibility that the United States will default on itsdebt. Congress is unable to resolve the issue, and President Obama is as obstinateas the legislators who oppose him. To some extent, our political system isfunctioning as intended -- the Founding Fathers meant for it to be cumbersome.But as they
A cascade of economicand trade agreements that followed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Septembervisit to several Central Asian nations indicates the increasing interest ofBeijing’s leadership in enhancing its economic and infrastructural linkageswith countries adjacent to its western borders and thereby taking an importantstep to circumvent naval c
Over the past two years I have written severalcolumns warning about the many early signs of fascism that have been appearingin America (as well as other militarized and capitalist nations around theglobe). American elites that have been in charge of domestic and foreignpolicies include fascist-leaning groups like powerful right-of-center politicalp
A moralimperative is a principle originating inside a person’s mind that compels thatperson to act. It is similar to categorical imperative as expounded by German philosopherImmanuel Kant who took the imperative to be a diktat of pure reason, in itspractical aspect. Not following the moral, Kant postulated is self-defeatingand thus contrary to reas
The Greater Middle East’s greatest rebuff to Uncle Sam: What if the sole superpower on theplanet makes its will known -- repeatedly -- and finds that no one islistening? Barely a decade ago that would have seemed like a conundrumfrom some fantasy Earth in an alternate dimension. Now, it is increasinglya plain description of political life
CongressParty president Sonia Gandhi’s decision to divide Andhra Pradesh and form aseparate Telengana state contradicts the firm stand of former Prime Minister IndiraGandhi. Andhra Pradesh, as is well known, is the first linguistic state ofIndia. TheCongress party’s decision in July this year, to divide Andhra Pradesh, led to apublic uproar i
Thegovernment shutdown, whether it causes a minor economic bleep or major economicexplosion, is another indicator of the larger crisis of global capital. Thisemergency is especially critical at its US headquarters where a deterioratingsituation has factions fighting for control and calling upon the gods ofcreation, madness or both in back
First, the good news. Americanhegemony is over. The bully has been subdued. We cleared the Cape of Good Hope,symbolically speaking, in September 2013. With the Syrian crisis, the world haspassed a key forking of modern history. It was touch and go, just as risky asthe Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The chances for total war were high, as thesteely w
Even as the painfulmemories of the Uttarakhand disaster remain fresh in our minds, it is importantthat we understand and assimilate the eco-friendly spiritual principles which formthe foundational principles of Sanatana Dharma. Unlike religionswhose theology has encouraged an attitude of aggression and exploitation,Hinduism has looked upon Nat
You’ll never guess what showed up in a crooked car repair shopright next to our clinic. About a dozen of the Westgate car wrecks. Howdo I know the repair shop is crooked? Because when we started working inthat area, we took our own cars to that place. They stole good parts outof our vehicles, replaced them with counterfeits, and did
US President Barack Obama called IranianPresident Hassan Rouhani last week in the first such conversation in the 34years since the establishment of the Islamic Republic. The phone call followedtweets and public statements on both sides indicating a willingness to talk.Though far from an accommodation between the two countries, there are reasonsto t
On the morning of July 16, 2001, NDTV telecast a breakfast meeting between some senior editors with then Pakistan president Mr Pervez Musharraf, at Agra. In this sunrise era of the electronic medium, when television genuinely broke the news (as opposed to screeched the views), one learnt that the visiting dignitary informed his guests that most of the dialog...
|
by
Senthil
|
on
07 Oct 2013
|
52 Comments
|
Somemonths ago, this writer met a regional co-ordinator of an NGO which focuses onsanitation in rural areas. During the course of a casual conversation, he complainedthat each village family spends more than Rs. 10,000 for festivals annually,but is not ready to spend Rs. 3000 for building a toilet. The writer felt outragedat this linking of toilets
Although officially announced as the BharatiyaJanata Party’s (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate on September 15, 2013, NarendraModi unofficially rang the poll bugle in February earlier this year with hisspeech at Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce. Since then, Modi’s appealhas grown throughout the country as witnessed in the crowd
At the beginning of Raghuvansh, Kalidasa admits of his diffidence.Kvasuryaprabhavo vansh: kva chalpavishayamati:Titirushurdustarammohad udeupenasmi sagaram.(Where the dynasty that emerged out of the Sunand where my limited intelligence? I am trying to cross an ocean with a ramshackleraft) I must say I have a similar feeling ofdiffidence
Whathappened in recent days on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly clearlyillustrates the emergence of new international relations, characterized by theend of American hegemony and the emergence of new realities. These suggest thebeginning of a different world than the one that has been experienced duringthe second half of the twentieth centur
|
by
Hari Om
|
on
03 Oct 2013
|
3 Comments
|
On September 30, RJDchief Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted by the Special CBI court in the over Rs900 crore fodder scam and sent to Birsa Munda Jail, Ranchi, Jharkhand, the sameday. The judicial process took 17 long years to bring Lalu Prasad Yadav tojustice. The CBI court will announce the quantum of sentence today (October 3). But one thing i
I am writing this from Greece, having spentthe past week in Europe and having moved among various capitals. Mostdiscussions I’ve had in my travels concern US President Barack Obama’s failureto move decisively against Syria and how Russian President Vladimir Putinoutmatched him. Of course, the Syrian intervention had many aspects, and one ofthe most
On Sept. 15, Japan shut down its Ohi 4 nuclearreactor for routine maintenance. This means that all of Japan’s 50 nuclearreactors are now off-line, and the 30% of the country’s power that had beengenerated by the nuclear reactors will have to met by imported oil and gas, ata much higher cost and greater environmental risk. Except for a brief periodf