The black money blackhole: BoB fraud shows our banks are legit route for illegitimate stash
There is an interesting coincidence in the whole Bank of Baroda remittance scam - the amount of money that is said to have gone out of the country (Rs 6,000 crore) is bigger than the illegal money that the government...
Shiv Sena’s democratic act of ‘non-violence’!
The shameful attack by the Shiv Sena on Sudheendra Kulkarni and the frenzied response to the writers protesting by returning their awards or quitting the Sahitya Akademi show how all possibility of meaning is being hijacked. It would be easy...
Bihar and its netas’ bet on throne!
Bihar is in for good times. You may ask why, since good times and Bihar don’t usually go together. The thing is, this time around, no one is going to get a clear majority. So, Biharis will be spared a...
BJP-Sena ties: Beginning of the end for saffron alliance?
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena relations have been uneasy since the 2014 Assembly polls, but they hit a new low on Sunday. For the first time, the Sena boycotted all functions chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai, with...
Centrality Of Caste In Bihar Election
In the popular parlance, both Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi, the leading faces of Mahagathbandhan and NDA in Bihar election, are known to pursue development centric electoral campaigns quite successfully by making identity issues subservient to developmental agenda. Apparently, the...
Bihar polls can decide Narendra Modi’s course of action!
A new challenge has emerged for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has to strike a balance between the Hindu agenda of his aides and his visionary social and economical reforms. Modi is on campaign trail in a state election...
“Bole to kyun bole? Nahi bole to kyun nahi bole?”, Gadkari on Modi’s silence!
Nagpur MP and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has shut up the voices raised by liberal forces and opposition parties for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene on the Dadri killing issue, saying it was not for the head of the...
Cow is the mother of all politics!
The cow has been a political animal in modern India, but it has become more political under the present BJP governments at the Centre and in some states, which are obsessed with beef bans and cow slaughter. But the ritual...
Digital Delusion : Can Aam Aadmi’s dreams be configured?
Digital India is the latest enchantment. The irony is that what goes missing in the search of a “technological fix” is human beings themselves. What should worry us is not the digital divide, but the fundamental divide between a rapidly...
Death and a re-birth: How Shashank Manohar made his way to BCCI top job
Shashank Manohar, the Nagpur lawyer who likes to maintain a low-key profile, became the BCCI president on Sunday. Ironically, it’s a development that’s seen as the result of N Srinivasan’s attempt to patch up with Sharad Pawar, a move that...
When Mark Juckerberg, Steve Jobs landed in India to say, “Baba Neem Karoli ki Jai Ho!”
A few years ago, Vinod Joshi, the secretary of the trust that manages a small temple and ashram nestled in a picture-postcard valley called Kainchi near Nainital, got a call from Larry Brilliant, an American physician and former director of...
Might of Amit Shah in Bihar stealing show!
The soil Amit Shah has prepared on Nitish's turf will see BJP's lotus bloom in Bihar this year, predict punters. And such bright will be its radiance that it will fade away Nitish and his political ally Lalu. What began...
Will Rajan turn ‘Rockstar’ for Indian economy?
On September 4, 2013, a regular RBI press conference to introduce the new governor of the central bank may have just become a footnote to history were it not for audacity of the entrant. The rupee was in a free...
Modi’s date with Barack and….Pak!
After holding forth on sustainable development, pitching for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council, schmoozing with American businessmen, and charming the diaspora, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will turn his attention this week to two of India’s most...
Why the Debate Over the Sanatan Sanstha Ban Diverts From the Real Questions
With the Hindutva group Sanathan Sanstha once again in the news after one of its members was arrested for his alleged role in the murder of Govind Pansare, a parallel - but distracting - controversy has broken out on why...
With due regards, Rajdeep Sardesai is back with reply to CM’s letter
In the latest update to the back and forth of open letters written between eminent journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, the former IBN head has responded yet again. Dear Devendraji, Firstly, I wish to thank you for replying to...
It’s time to bring strict law for public privacy!
It is welcome that the draft national encryption policy with inane demands on the public to maintain records of transactions on assorted messaging applications, for handover to the authorities on request, has been dropped. This gives the government an opportunity...
Rs 223 cr black money nexus of P. Chidambaram-Vasan Eye Care!
See the gravity of the charge. JD Group gave Rs 8.64 cr loan free of interest to Vasan Eye Care group — in cheque. It also gave substantial amount of Rs 40 cr in cash — that is, black money...
Painting Netaji files in political colors…!
It does not require much analytical experience to decipher the politics behind the release of the Netaji files by the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee towards the fag end of her first term in office. This act of serving...
Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan may be reduced to one of the empty rituals!
A recent survey shows that 71% of those involved in the study have opined that Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan is a complete flop show and remained limited to photo opportunities only. Here were present Dr Shashi Tharoor’s point of view on...
Why VHP should not be banned for painting religion with politics?
VHP has now fully encroached upon the area of all sorts of religious policing, as they have now become self-proclaimed monitoring agencies of Hindu religion. And the latest one at the target is AR Rahman. Rahman has found himself facing a...
