Presidential election loses its dignity and gravitas? Is democracy only a numbers game? If so, then, is politics is all about mere political survival for some persons or some families? It looks Sonia Gandhi’s approach to matters of high state, the legacy of the Congress party and its ideals and much else seems to be…
President of India must rise up.
How a high Constitutional office was dragged to a low common denominator! The Presidential contest between Mrs.Pratiba Patil and the incumbent Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has taken some ugly turns.This is most unfortunate. Given the high office of the President under the Indian Constitution,an office that is both ceremonial and symbolic of the hopes and…
The current tragedy of agriculture policy making!
India would turn into a food importer? Yes, says our Agriculture Minister! Our policy makers have become smug about agriculture! They don’t in fact know what to do to turn agriculture as India’s strength. That is the current tragedy of policy making. All our top ministers are able men. They are widely seen as the…
Biltin Toker, my friend
Biltin Toker, my friend Biltin Toker was my friend at Oxford, he was from Istanbul, Turkey. He studied architecture at Oxford and we became close friends. He used to win prizes for his innovative architecture designs and he and his designs used to be flashed at the Oxford towns local paper, Oxford Mail. After we…
Third Front in Indian politics
How it would transform Indian politics? A new Indian political flavour, this new coalition of regional and smaller parties? Yes, it looks like that. So long it was the two big national parties that headed the coalition politics in India. Now, it is the regional parties, the smaller parties that are converging towards a new…
Why some write autobiographies?
What price earthly glory ! No man is immortal! An autobiographical odyssey? Not quite!Here are certain random thoughts on why some choose to write autobiographies,while more prominent leaders don’t do the same? An intriguing question?Yes,if you look beyond the superficial writings most autobiographies and biographies are.Some autobiographies are just ego trips.Some others,the ones often by…
World’s great newspapers : How Indian newspapers compare?
Book Review Media Monolith by Mark Tungate,2004,pp 260 Worldwide,newspapers seem to be growing in strength.Says the World Association of Newspapers(WAN) that in spite of the TV,the Internet and other digital distribution channels, it is the print media,the newspapers that has reported sales growth of 2.3 per cent last year.And more interestingly,it is India and China…
Will the UPA government last its full term?
Political morals and political legitimacy The current contradictions and confusions raise many questions! Democracy in India is now reduced to numbers games.All norms and high principles are thrown away.So,the coalition politics has been taking so many opportunistic survival strategies. Do political morals and political legitimacy matter in a democracy?Is Indian democracy at this point of…