Recent Posts
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Sonia Gandhi – Why Indian Origin Matters
Sadanand Dhume in his recent article (Read it here) argues that “opposing her for her Italian origins” is misguided. He presents three supportive arguments – (1) she lived in India for longer than many Indians (2) India bases citizenship on soil and not blood (3) Indians do not care about...
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New Model of Governance – 1
Deepak Singh has two audio blogs for us on “New Model of Governance” and how Narendra Modi fits into the picture. This is the first part of the two-part series. Click here to listen to it online https://dl.dropbox.com/u/22389366/stateofthemarket/podcast/New%20Model%20of%20Governance%20v2.mp3
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Churchill’s Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India during World War II
Churchill’s Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India during World War II, by Madhushree Mukherjee Eye-opening, gut-wrenching account of the horrors of famine, of genocide and war-crimes perpetrated on an occupied landBetween 3 and 5 million people died of starvation and famine in Bengal in India in 1943. The...
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A Pill by Any Other Name Would Work As Neat
The title is the saaransh (“essence”) of the decision of the Indian Supreme Court in the Novartis case. As explained in the last two posts, the Supreme Court has done justice to the object of inclusion of Section 3(d) and has effectively sent out a very balanced positive (yes, not...
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ABVP : A Critical Reappraisal
Writing this part of the 3 part series on the ABVP has been the most difficult. I was apprehensive of the kind of reactions this piece would stimulate by all readers in general and ABVP workers and sympathizers in particular; for after publication of the last part a fortnight ago,...
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The Novartis Decision- What Does it Portend for India?
In my last post, I had given a concise primer to the Novartis patent saga and listed the broad reasons of the Indian Supreme Court for rejecting Novartis’s patent application on its anti-cancer drug Glivec. In this post, I’ll discuss only the most salient legal finding of the Supreme Court...
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Why Narendra Modi can be PM?
Narendra Modi’s re-induction into the Bhartiya Janata Party’s(BJP) Central Parliamentary Board, along with the inclusion of his confidant Amit Shah as the party general secretary, are clear indications that the BJP prime ministerial candidate debate is settled within the party. Modi, the only chief minister to make it to the...
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The Bhagavad Gita , Dharma and Freedom of Choice
The style of the present piece is completely and deliberately Bharatiya (Indic).It adopts the question answer method between the Guru (the teacher – the expounder) and the Shishya ( the disciple – the question raiser ) which has been consistently used in Indic treatises , from that of Bhagwan Sri...
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Django Unchained – A Political Perspective
Note: The use of politically incorrect epithets/words in the below note is merely to respect the film-maker’s political incorrectness. No other agenda regarding race should be construed otherwise. Quentin Tarantino is like an irresistible bar-tender; one that you wish to go to anytime you want, without a second thought, so...
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The Novartis Decision – A Primer
On April 1, 2012, the Supreme Court of India delivered its first ever much-awaited decision involving a pharmaceutical product/drug, namely beta crystalline form of Imatinib Mesylate (let’s call it BCIM in short), sold by Novartis AG. The drug is used to treat chronic forms of cancer such as myeloid leukemia. In this...
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The Unaffiliated Youth : A New Political Force?
Philip Altbach, in 1968, published his study of students’ movements in various parts of the world. His study was based on a limited approach to study various students’ movements in Latin America, the United States and India. What is evident is that students, as a political entity, have always focused...
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Punctuations, Episode 3: Madhu Kishwar
CRI is pleased to present Episode 3 of its podcast, Punctuations, in which Sandeep Balakrishna and Jaideep Prabhu converse with Madhu Kishwar. A leading figure for women’s rights in India, she nevertheless rejects the label of feminist. Kishwar remains a controversial figure in the mainstream press, and we find out...
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When laws are unequal
Modern day criminal justice systems are supposed to operate under the assumption that everyone is equal before law. And there is a good reason to say so. One of the earliest texts that codified a way of life and regulated social behavior is the manusmriti. The book approached all aspects...
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The Indian “Deep State”
The concept of a “deep state” is an old one, but of Turkish origin (see here). However, it is nobody’s case, that “if” the deep state exists, then it exists only in Turkey! Conspiracy theorists have long argued that a “very deep state” exists not only in the US, UK,...
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The Prodigal State: India’s New Nuclear Clothes
E debbasi considerare come non è cosa più difficile a trattare, né più dubia a riuscire, né più pericolosa a maneggiare, che farsi capo ad introdurre nuovi ordini – Niccolò Machiavelli1 …when these matters are discussed by practical people, the standard of justice depends on the equality of power to...