The most impassioned speech in the Lokpal debate in the Lok Sabha today was made by the young parliamentarian from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Jayant Chaudhary. Chaudhary, the grandson of former Prime Minister Charan Singh and the son of Ajit Singh, was the only parliamentarian to go against the general trend of criticising Anna […]
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to prevent the emergence of Nepal as a republic in 2008 as it wanted to retain it as the World’s last ‘Hindu Kingdom’, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) felt. Krishna Mahara, a member of the Maoist Central Committee of Nepal expressed the fear in a letter written to […]
Suspicion about “Love Jihad” — an alleged Islamist plot to increase the share of Muslims in the population by incentivizing Muslim men to marry outside the community — is probably the result of the overall paranoia and religious tension in South India, US Consul General Andrew Simkin told his government in February last year. However, […]
Is the famed ‘Kerala Model’ of development — characterized by high government spending on health and education — unsustainable in the long run? Even the state’s then ruling Communists were not sure it was, according to a detailed report of a visit by US officials to the South Indian state in late 2007. The visit […]
Just days after Twitter indicated its interest in the search market, the messaging platform is now spreading its wings towards the social networking scene. Under a pilot project covering a small (lucky) portion of its user-base, it has introduced two new ‘tabs’ that increasingly turns the Twitter experience more ‘Facebookish’. The tabs, that replace the […]
Two German mountaineers missing in Afghanistan since last week found to be killed in the Salang Pass near the capital Kabul. Though the Interior Ministry Spokesperson, Sidiq Sediqi, has not yet confirmed the report, the Governor of the Parwan province,Abdul Basir Salangi, talking to the RTN confirmed the death. He said that the bodies have […]
Muslims in China’s Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) are increasingly becoming more aware of their Isamic heritage, thanks to more liberal policies followed by the Chinese government in the last three decades, according to an on-the-ground report from David Brown, the Consul General of Chengdu in Sichuan, a province adjoining the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). However, […]
The coming to power of Mayawati, India’s most powerful Dalit leader, in Uttar Pradesh has instilled fear in the minds of criminals and improved law and order, the US embassy to India felt after a review at the end of 100 days of her rule in UP in 2007. While she may not be “up […]
Dish TV, India’s first DTH operator and part of the Essel Zee group of Subash Chandra, has finally come out with its ‘cam module’ that allows consumers of other DTH operators to also watch Dish TV channels on their existing equipment. The Cam Module (see picture) is inserted into the ‘cam slot’ located just above […]
Singapore consciously cultivates its relationship with India as a way to counter-balance China’s growing influence in South East Asia, according to a cable written by American ambassador to the city-state, Franklin Lavin in 2004. According to Lavin’s reading of the country’s new “India fever”, Singapore does not want China to dominate South East Asia and […]
In a bid to ‘clean up’ the government’s image before upcoming elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has moved with unprecedented speed to address concerns of a scam in the Commonwealth Games coverage. The PM on Friday evening removed Aruna Sharma, Director General (DG) of Doordarshan from her post and back to her original cadre, while […]
18 percent of all IT outsourcing contracts will have elements of ‘as a service’ or ‘utility’ billing model this year, according to a survey of the IT Outsourcing (ITO) companies by Gartner, the World’s largest IT research agency. This will rise to 24% in 2012, according to the same survey. It also found some IT […]
Minutes before the Parliament starts a debate on veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare’s demands on Jan Lokpal, the 74-year-old sent a clear signal that he is willing to fight on if the legislature tries to wriggle out of the situation. Speaking on the 12th day of his marathon fast, he tried to lay to rest the […]
Medha Patkar, one of India’s biggest mass leaders and part of the Anna Hazare group, has confirmed that Team Anna is giving feedback to the Government on the statement to be made by leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee in a few minutes. Patkar said a team of Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi […]
Over the last five days, conversations in the national capital are increasingly about a 72-year-old son of a factory worker from Maharashtra, Kisan Baburao Hazare or Anna Hazare. While the majority of the Indian middle-class and the rural residents seem to be in favor of his agitation (going by the polls), many, especially the urban […]
The Parliament will not give a binding directive to the standing committee to go by the consensus that may emerge at the end of discussions today, according to the statement made by Pranab Mukherjee to start off the discussion in Lok Sabha today. Kicking the discussions off, Pranab Mukherjee, the senior most Congress leader, said […]
I do have a strong set of issues with the supposed ‘intelligentsia’ response to the Anna Hazara / IAC movement / Jan Lokpal bill – I use the terms loosely and interchangeably. The key stands, summarising Nitin Pai, Amba Salakar, Arundhati Roy et al seem to be: 1. “We (the civil society experts / bloggers […]
Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has lent strong support to passing a “strong and effective” Lokpal bill as soon as possible. She also lent support to Anna Hazare group on all three questions which were subjected to debate in the Parliament today. 1) On the issue of including the Judiciary, […]
India’s active mobile subscribers are only aorund half of the gross subscribers reported by the mobile operators, according to a survey by Juxt Consult, one of India’s pioneering mobile and Internet research agency. According to Juxt Consult, India had only 48.7 crore (487 million) mobile subscribers in June this year, compared to the 85 crore […]
India will get a new media regulator in less than a month, Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni said at a CII conference on Friday. The minister said that industry-government body meant to recommend the structure of the new body has finalized its proposals and the same are about to be forwarded to the Cabinet. […]
