There was a time when elections were a backbreaking, time-consuming process – and counting more so. Each ballot had to be counted, and often recounted. And between the two arduous chapters of what sugar-sweet analysts genially call celebration or festival of democracy came the even more arduous – and tense and risky – phase of keeping the sealed ballot boxes out of harm’
The fast changing nature of cyber crime is forcing the law enforcement agencies to make rapid adjustments to come to grips with the new menace. In an interaction with Ankita Lahiri, the super cop who has also served with the National Investigation Agency says that lack of forensic experts, tools and low level of awareness are just some of the issues that the department needs to
With UPA on backfoot, non-Congress secular parties will gain ground in the 2014 general elections, believes CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat. In an exclusive interview with Deepak Rastogi, he talks about the perils of caste-based politics, the absence of a Modi wave and how AAP will not be able to conjure magic outside Delhi. Edited excerpts: In the
About two weeks back, a respected and highly accomplished independent director of Infosys tweeted saying; – “At a recent Infy board meeting, I was most impressed by Rohan Murty`s brilliant tech-loaded presentation, which will enormously benefit Infy." She withdrew it in haste little while later, saying she was carried by the brilliance she saw in the presentation in wrongly twe
For long during the 34 years of the Left Front administration in West Bengal, the Congress had an ‘explanation’ for the Front’s sweep: scientific rigging. The accusation was hurled especially at the CPI(M), the leading partner of the Front in both the state and nationally. The opposition party in the state – subsequently the opposition parties, after Mamata Baner
The success of any policy or programme depends on how well we understand the human behaviour. Over time the evidence from psychology, sociology, neuroscience and other disciplines has found humans are not so rational. Such evidence needs to be taken into account by policy makers and implementers. A clear understanding of human behaviour – including appreciation of certain biases &
Why is the DeitY planning to roll out the next phase of e-governance programme—eKranti or NeGP 2.0—when milestones related to national e-governance plan (NeGP) are yet to be met? NeGP 2.0 is essentially an attempt to take e-governance to the next level in the country. E-governance has already acquired a lot of traction. But at the same time we acknowledge th
He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. But since it would be a bit too harsh a proverb to use for the occasion, let’s just say he who tweets to embarrass others often gets embarrassed on Twitter. Congress party general secretary Digvijay Singh is learning it. The “hard way” or not is for him to figure out. For the moment, let’s just say the disconcerting way.
You have had a long association with India and consider it your adopted home. In your latest book you have written about foreigners writing on India. How have you negotiated your location of being an outsider/insider? I take pleasure in being both an outsider and an insider. For most Indians, however long I stay in India, I will always be seen as a foreigner. And
From heading a bank to now being at the helm of affairs at IBA, what is the kind of transition you have had to make? The role of the chairman is that of ensuring the execution of the bank’s commitment. Now, as chief executive of the IBA, I need to ensure that the complete ecosystem is in place so that the banks can fulfil their commitments. [The ecosystem consists]
I t is over fifty years since Lieutenant General Henderson Brooks and Brigadier Prem Bhagat submitted their report on the Indian army’s performance in the war against China. Yet going by the response to parts of the report recently released by Neville Maxwell, it feels almost as if we are back in 1963. Much of the commentary on the report eerily echoes the post-mortems performed in the im
Amid growing anxiety over possible improvement in the global economy, the Asian economy is likely to witness a steady growth rate this fiscal, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecasted. According to a recent report by the bank the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2014, the region will experience a slight increase in growth from 6.1 percent in 2013 to 6.2 percent this fiscal f
[Here is the text of the 15th D P Kohli Memorial Lecture Gopalkrishna Gandhi delivered on April 15 in New Delhi. Courtesy: http://cbi.nic.in/speech/15dpk_20140415_chiefguest.pdf] I am grateful to Sri Ranjit Sinha, Director CBI, for giving me this valuable chance. And I take this opportunity
When Medha Patkar, founder of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and convener of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), decided to contest Lok Sabha elections as an Aam Admi Party candidate from Mumbai Northeast, the reactions were mixed. While many welcomed the move, others felt she should have stayed off the electoral course. The Magsaysay award-winning activist tells
I own a house close to the Metro station in Vaishali, Ghaziabad. It’s just a kilometre from Anand Vihar – the ISBT and railway station in east Delhi – and about 15 km on road from Connaught Place, the heart of the national capital. It’s less than half an hour by the Metro; add about 10 minutes for New Delhi railway station Noida, the other hub of the capital region (NCR)
Notwithstanding policies abound world over on tackling climate change, global emission of greenhouse gases grew much faster between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades, according to a new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report, entitled ‘Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change’ says that only major institutio
There has been a perceptible turnaround in Africa’s politico-economic situation. The first decade of the new century witnessed some of the fastest growing economies in the world coming from sub-Saharan Africa. Do you believe that this is a sustainable and irreversible trend? If so, why? It is irreversible. That is something non-negotiable. Because the future genera
Fixed tenure for civil servants is now a part of the All-India Service Rules. The supreme court’s judgement on stability of tenure for civil servants was based on the expectation that insulating them from political interference will lead to efficient service delivery and increased efficiency. This takes a simplistic view of the institutional dimensions of governance, and the desired resul
Ustad Mahmud Mirza is an unusual musician. A top-ranking sitar player who has impressed audiences in India and abroad with his chaste classicism, he is a widely read man who can raise the level of any conversation with his profound observations on literature, art, music, Indian and world politics, religion and philosophy. He was initiated into sitar playing at the early age of six by his matern
Bruce Colville, well-known American writer of children’s books, said, “Withholding information is the essence of tyranny, control of the flow of information is the tool of dictatorship.” It will be democratically incorrect to be associated with tyranny and dictatorship. Our government offices are abuzz with tête-à-tête about the Right to Information (RTI) Ac
