After a series of consultations with various groups in Jammu and Kashmir during his visit of the state last week, the union government’s designated interlocutor and former intelligence bureau (IB) chief Dineshwar Sharma returned to Delhi and is briefing the union home ministry this week about the developments. And there are enough straws in the wind to suggest that Sharma&r
When prime minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, was about to board his official plane to visit Varanasi about two years ago, he got a call from the then French president Francois Hollande. Hollande wanted to tell him about the progress in the ongoing Paris climate summit, known as COP 21. Modi said he would call him back after reaching Varanasi. Later, Mod
Constitutionally, health and education are seen as rights resting on an equivalent platform: both are part of the fundamental right to life under Article 21, both are vested as a duty upon the state under the directive principles of state policy and basic access to both is intrinsically linked to every person’s right as a citizen of India. However, the implementation of both the rights ha
In the final analysis almost all of politics and most of economics are connected to three critical human needs: food, clothing and shelter. In India we know it quite intimately having seeped deep into our popular culture as roti, kapda and makaan. Of course, in India as in several other countries, the three human needs are also liberally interspersed with all sorts of cultural norms, religious
M Karunanidhi alias Kalaignar dons the hat of an outstanding scriptwriter of Tamil cinema besides being a formidable politician and Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK) chief. Yet he would have found it difficult to anticipate the turn of events that took place in Chennai recently. Prime minister Narendra Modi not only visited the ageing patriarch of Tamil politics and but also stumped
When prime minister Narendra Modi laid emphasis on internal democracy within political parties during a Diwali Milan interaction with the media in Delhi, he was merely echoing the sentiments of Syama Prasad Mookherjee, the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the progenitor of the BJP. In 1950, two years before the formation of the BJS, Mookherjee wrote a “programme f
The United Nations General Assembly has designated October 31 as World Cities Day, which has the general theme - Better City, Better Life. It is a well known fact that by 2030 nearly 70 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities. In India where presently nearly 32 percent of the population is living in urban areas, over the next two decades nearly 300 milli
Many will be surprised to know that 80 years ago, trains ran at a faster speed in North America and Western Europe than in India today. On the shorter distances (up to 500 km), daytime inter-city trains achieved average speed of 120 to 130 kmph, and on the longer routes (more than 1,000 km) speed was only marginally lower. For example: The 286 km distance from B
The assembly elections in Gujarat are expected by December, and the Elections Commission is touring the state on Monday to check the preparedness. It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, and he is not going to take it easy. He has made two weekend trips in the past one month, setting the stage for fight. From the opposition, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi too has made two v
With an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore for the 100 Smart Cities initiative and Rs 48,000 crore for 500 cities under the Atal Mission For Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), the government is targeting to address the growing challenges of rapid urbanisation in a sustainable manner. AMRUT aims to provide in cities basic services and amenities relating to water supply, sewerage, septage mana
In ordinary circumstances, a real estate company can take loans from banks only to bridge gap between ‘inflow’ and ‘outflow’ of funds required to complete the project as per contractual specifications and handover the possession of the dream abode to home-buyers within the scheduled time. Interest on such loan and repayment thereof can then be repaid from collection of c
A midwife has a key role to play in the healthcare system and she is in charge of prenatal care, the delivery, and postpartum services. However, retention of midwives, especially in rural areas, is a major challenge for many countries, one that threatens to negate all the hard work and resources being invested in their training. In a way, these health workers are the warriors on
As argued in the previous article, it is patently clear why India should not postpone efforts to reform the judiciary. The problems facing the judiciary are well understood. Much of what needs to be done has been analysed to death in the media, learned journals and books, and is reflected in gov
Some people are born with silver spoon in their mouth. Some tend to acquire it. Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha is neither. He belongs to a unique genre of career bureaucrat-turned-career politician who are not content with merely acquiring silver spoon for themselves but try to ensure its perpetual possession for their progenies. It would not be wide off the mark to read
There was something eclectic about the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). As one crossed the gates, the sprawling campus came in view, representing a microcosm of the entire universe of education. Driving from the Sir Sunderlal hospital to the IIT and dairy farms at the end of the university, one would simply marvel at the genius of the man who founded it – Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya.
From 1969, following an amendment in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Act, the university’s executive council is entirely nominated by the president of India on the recommendations of the HRD ministry. None of the executive council members are elected, which dilutes the democratic structure of the university. Also, the university today doesn’t have a teachers’ association an
It is not very often that Facebook advertises in newspapers. Last time it did was a year ago when it was promoting `free basics`— a limited internet service provided for free to subscribers of partnering telecom service providers. The internet platform’s reach is unparalleled vis-a-vis to traditional media. Yet, on September 21, the US based social media giant gave advertisements in
Lucknow, September 15 The Uttar Pradesh Police releases official data on crime control under the new dispensation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Reveals that in 180 days of the new government, 420 encounters have taken place leading to the elimination of 15 supposedly dreaded criminals. The last ten of the
Since the dawn of this century, owing to their growing interdependence, India’s ties with the African states have gradually been acquiring significance in a rapidly globalising world. Such interdependence is manifesting itself quite clearly in economic, developmental and politico-strategic spheres of bilateral as well as multilateral activities. Amidst all these wide-ranging areas of coop
The telecom regulator has opted for the Bill and Keep (BAK) model for interconnection usage charges, that one operator pays to the other for call termination. At one stroke, the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) regulation on interconnection has facilitated savings of Rs 5,000 crore to Reliance Jio and loss of revenue for the incumbents of approximately Rs 3,500 crore. The m
