More in Short Posts
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Bush, Manmohan and Katrina Moment
Around the time the Indo-US nuclear deal was finalised, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shared a platform with George Bush and declared that the people of India loved George Bush. It was an exaggeration. More likely, he was speaking for himself. Since then, a lot of things have happened, and the...
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The Rashtrapathi Riddle
We are in the thick of public confabulations for the selection of the President of India. Many of us are so disillusioned by the Presidency of the current incumbent due to the various controversies that she had got involved in, that we have almost forgotten that this is the position...
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Demilitarization of Siachen
The recent incident of 124 Pakistani soldiers buried under an avalanche over their post near Siachen glacier reignited the old debate on the futility or otherwise of two nations fighting a battle for control of an inhospitable glacier about 80 km in length that is at a height of over...
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A Brief Note from Sudhir
Degradation of an institution will give rise to another. In this context, the degraded institution that i refer is the TV media. The rising institution is the blogoshpere (includes blogs and other social networks). Personally, current affairs and policy matters interest me a lot. During the pre-internet days, I used...
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The Paradox of the Political
“Thus the question arises of what is the best regime. The first answer given by such men as Plato and Aristotle, and Socrates before them, is that in which the wise rule, absolutely and irresponsibly. Irresponsibly in the sense that they are not responsible to other human beings. That the...
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Centre-State Resource sharing
One of the abiding irritants of the Congress electoral strategy in many state elections that has been commented upon (but not enough) is this imperious statement made by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, “We send money from Delhi, but it has been wasted by the State Government”. Of course, this statement...
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They don’t make Men like this anymore
It came hurtling down heavy and hard, at 150 kilometers an hour. It hit the ground and took off as if it fed off an invisible source of venom in the earth. It seemed to have perfected the art of hunting. Like all predators, it went for the throat. Baring...
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UP Assembly Polls 2012 Analysis – Kalyan Singh Effect
Now that the votes have been counted and it’s time probably to take stock, someone in the BJP offices, unfazed by the disappointment over the poor show in UP assembly polls, it is hoped is, still labouring over the numbers. One of the foremost things which should strike BJP is...
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Incredible Ingenuity
Like many others, I too was amazed at columnist Salil Tripathi’s column. I am not going to argue with him or those like him who think that Rajeev was a novice at age 40 and Modi a pro within four months of taking up a new job. It’s just not worth arguing. What is...
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How Dark could the Dark Horse be?
I had some free time recently and was trying to do some number-crunching around the likely outcome of the UP elections. There was a very interesting article by R.Jagannathan on Firstpost on “UP poll will decide which party is irrelevant: Congress or BJP”. In it he gives the demographic break-up...
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The absurdity of paid tweeters
Over the past few weeks, we have seen a slew of allegations related to paid tweeters. Ironically, they come from those who make a living out of “delivering news”. And they accuse tweeters for whom twitter is at best a hobby. The accusers are usually journo-tycoons and worth more than...
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Mediocre players, Terrible Game
After such a dismal performance of the UPA 2.0 any electoral victory of the Congress party should seem remarkable. And rhetorically speaking, if that victory comes from Uttar Pradesh, the triumph will presumably be lapped up emphatically enough for it to be viewed as a catalyst for Rahul’s accession to...
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Hate Filled Article of Tehelka – Scary Distortion of Journalism Values
Recently a story titled Hindutva Lab 2.0 appeared in Tehelka. For those of you, who have not read it; please feel free to indulge in the exercise. However, you are cautioned against taking the content seriously. Why not? The write-up reflects the frustration of Tehelka when a nationalist movement garners momentum. The...
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Terror Which No One Reports
On 28th of January, in an audacious attack which could be considered as a gross reminder to the complacent Indian government regarding religious and ethnic complexities of North-East, suspected terrorists( yes, not insurgents) of National Socialist Council of Nagaland –Ishak Muivah NSCN – (IM) killed 5 people in the Chandel district of Manipur....