Narasimha Rao’s masterstroke was the appointment of Manmohan Singh. One of his closest aides later recalled to me that even as a cabinet minister, Rao always felt that a prime minister should always have one source of senior, substantive and non-political advice, especially in those areas where the prime minster is weak [Interestingly, Narasimha Rao did not make Singh a member of the CWC
For the last one month, India has been wallowing in a cool, scented pool of self-congratulation over the 25th anniversary of economic reform that began in July 1991. But as has been well said, what you see depends on where you stand and that’s pretty much true of India’s self-congratulation over ‘reforms’ as well. Thus, if you ask the Congres
Vinay Sitapati, who teaches at Ashoka University and is finishing his Ph.D. in politics from Princeton, has written the book of the season, Half-Lion: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Changed India (Penguin), bringing focus finally on that man
The crisis of 1991 is the most momentous event I was ever involved in; it is also perhaps when I did the greatest service to my country. But it is also when I met colleagues with sharp knives – a time I try not to remember. India was the country where I was born and grew up, but not one in which I felt at home. Those great leaders who inherited it from the British had turn
The central government has requested the law commission of India to study the feasibility of having a uniform civil code governing marriage, divorce and inheritance for people of all religions living in the country. While some political groups and Muslim religious leaders have opposed interference with personal laws as invasion into religious freedom of minorities, the real hurdle in way of r
Sheila Dikshit, Congress veteran and former chief minister of the national capital, will be the chief ministerial candidate of the party for the Uttar Pradesh elections, scheduled for early next year. Dikshit has set the record as the longest-serving chief minister of Delhi. I remember interviewing her just after her party had won the 2008 assembly elections, giving her a third t
Dr Mukhisa Kituyi is the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He has extensive background as an elected official, an academic and a holder of high government office. For five years beginning 2002, he was the Kenyan minister for trade and industry. Dr Kituyi has also served as chairman of the Council of Ministers of the African, Caribbean
Amish Tripathi, a banker turned author, has written the highly successful Shiva Trilogy, a mythical fantasy based on Lord Shiva which shot him to fame in a short span and placed him in the best-selling category. He is a devotee of Lord Shiva and has his roots in the holy city of Varanasi where his grandfather served as a Pundit and Sanskrit scholar. He is currently busy with the Ram Chandra
Kerala imposing a tax on junk food, now popularly referred to as fat tax, puts the spotlight on rising obesity, an issue that should have been addressed quite some time. Chubby kids do look cute. However, there are serious health issues associated with being obese, due partly to hogging tasty junk food like pizzas and burgers. Kerala finance minister Thomas Issac,
A lot has been said and heard about the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY). A common refrain is that it does not have special funds for its effective implementation. Media reports say that some MPs are unwilling to adopt any village under the SAGY to avoid any notion of preference for one or another village and thus avoid wrathful response of other villagers at the time of elections. But nobod
Almost nine in 10 Indian employees are satisfied at their workplace. This is the highest average among 15 countries surveyed by Edenred-Ipsos Barometer. Japan, on the other hand, is far behind other countries, with only 44 percent Japanese employees saying that they are content with their job. Mexico, USA, Chile and Brazil are at the top right after India. The surv
Summer is generally a frenzied time for forces hunting terrorists in Kashmir. Each season, a fresh crop of trained-in-Pakistan jihadis arrive in the Valley – the numbers can vary as per the Indo-Pak equations and border security at a given time – to undertake dramatic terror strikes. They don’t always succeed but when they do – like the June 26 strike in Pampore in whi
Should health insurance include the cost of medicine? That is the question raised by a recent study on India which seeks to measure the financial burden of cardiovascular diseases on people. While it does not make any suggestions, it does point out that health insurance schemes in India do not cover medication costs. It further points out a known fact that 75 percent of health ex
It seems Greece’s referendum on Grexit last year inspired Arvind Kejriwal to announce his intention to hold a referendum in Delhi on statehood. It is, therefore, no surprise that the unexpected positive vote for Brexit should lead him to bring back the issue of a referendum in Delhi to
As a young BJP MP, Kiren Rijiju had once favoured full statehood for Delhi. On November 21, 2006, he along with party senior Santosh Gangwar had expressed “deep concern over not according the status of a full-fledged State to Delhi despite repeated requests”. Today, as minister of state for home, he is looking at the idea from the other side. He explains his change of stance in
With the union cabinet having accorded its approval to the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, about one crore government employees and pensioners will get a 2.5-time hike in basic pay and pensions, which will cost the state exchequer annually Rs 1.02 lakh crore. The once-in-a-dec
Veteran Congress leader Sheila Dikshit, during her three consecutive terms as Delhi chief minister, often blamed the multiplicity of authorities in the national capital as an obstacle to development. She too often demanded full statehood for Delhi. Talking
Asha Devi Mornings in my village are not very pleasant. This is despite the fact that I live in a lush green, idy
Using IT in forensic science is no longer restricted to the realm of sci-fi. It can help the government and agencies in cracking cases like those arising from the Panama Papers, rising NPAs of banks and money laundering. In an interaction with Pratap Vikram Singh, Petrus Marais of KPMG talks about the need of forensics with the increasing focus on cyber security.
Girija Devi is one of the finest classical and folk vocalists in the country. Born and brought up in Varanasi, she took forward the legacy of Benaras gharana and mastered semi-classical forms of music like thumri, kajri and tappa. She received Padma Vibhushan earlier this year. At 87, the Queen of Thumri as she is fondly called, shares her thoughts with Swati Chandra on the
