Years ago when I was taught first in school about rapeseed, my friends and I were blushing and in splits. After the class we wondered and laughed for hours discussing how this seed of rape could spread crime in our society. The joke is back – in nothing-but-funny theories our political masters have been propounding of rape of late. Seems like failure to curb the crime has driven them to i
In Kolkata, that well-known doctor, Mamata Banerjee, has staked a claim for immortality by her latest medical discovery: dengue is caused by dieting. Fat ladies and overweight men are presumably immune; on the other hand if they do succumb to dengue it is because the virus has not read Dr Mamata Banerjee’s latest paper on the subject. Across the country, in Gujarat, the chief minister the
In the mid-1970s and a large part of the 1980s, a pitched intellectual and academic battle raged between legendary political scientist CP Bhambri and iconic sociologist Rajni Kothari on the structure, composition and character of the Indian State. A parallel and interesting skirmish erupted between the two giants when Kothari said that poverty is relative. Bhambri was of the strong view that po
India is expected to see a substantial jump in the number of millionaires in the next five years as the total tally for the super rich in the country is likely to touch 242,000 by 2017, a report says. According to a Credit Suisse Research Institute`s Global Wealth Report, the number of millionaires in the country in 2012 stands at 158,000, which is likely to swell to 242,000 by the year
The extreme of hatred is hallucinatory. In losing the prism of reason, we risk being capricious. Blinkered thus, we cannot tell black from white in a world which is largely grey. I will cite four examples to elucidate how we are failing to appreciate that innovation and innovation alone sets a leader apart from followers. The road is a teacher Indian road
As the UK decided to resume diplomatic relations with him, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi thundered on Thursday, telling an election rally that the whole world is looking up at the state but not the Manmohan Singh goernment. Last year he told us the central government was treating his regime like an enemy nation. We reproduce here that interview.
In a country with a frenzied appetite for economic growth, hunger among the Indian poor this year is no different from what it was sixteen years back. The latest Global Hunger Index report puts India’s hunger management in the “alarming” category. However, the only solace is that hunger has fallen sl
The Prime Minister appeared concerned with the environment of cynicism in the country on the issue of corruption when he addressed the Anti-Corruption investigators at a conference in Delhi yesterday. He analyzed the present situation as ‘a mindless environment of negativism’ being created in the country which is obviously not healthy for any parliamentary de
The first Norman Borlaug award, instituted by the Rockefeller Foundation in the memory of the Nobel laureate who fathered the green revolution, was given to a young scholar from India. Aditi Mukherji, a social scientist with the International Water Management Institute, New Delhi, was selected from among several candidates for her research on the usage of groundwater resources in West Bengal wh
The past decade has seen a unique exploration of Mahatma Gandhi’s life. If Sudhir Kakar wrote an imaginative novel on Mira and the Mahatma unraveling various aspects of Gandhi’s psychology, the Mahatma’s grandsons Rajmohan Gandhi and Gopalkrishna Gandhi explored his personality by writing a biography and compiling an anthology respectively to throw light on hitherto untouched
The content available on the internet encompasses the world; even a phrase such as “rum bum tum” which carries no meaning for a person with average intelligence presents 647,000 results in 0.35 seconds on Google search. Did you say, “Ting xing bing?” Roll your eyes; 5,490,000 results in 0.25 seconds. The Indian internet user has matured and has moved on to use mo
New Year resolutions are no longer about giving up smoking or being kind to strangers. It is about spending less time on the internet. Recently I met a friend who spends so much time on the net that he has no time for his real job. “I think I must get myself one of those things,” he said, “You know, that app... I can’t remember the name... I’ll have to look it up o
By 2050, there will be more women than men in India`s population of those over 60 years of age, according to a report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). India`s aging will, however, be in keeping with the global trend — more women in the club than men. "By 2050, the olderly women (60+ category) in the country will e
I am happy that Yuvraj is well and healthy but the cancer took its toll and it is typical Indian sentiment to boost him beyond his capabilities. It is heartbreaking to see the hypocrisy as we applaud every run he scores...like it was magical. Stop it. By the same token Harbhajan, Balaji, Irfan Pathan are yesterday`s people and already put to farm. Why resurrect them? As for Rohi
India has been ranked 66, much lower than neighbouring China, in the 2012 Global Food Security Index released on Thursday by the American chemical company DuPont. According to the report, India is protein and vitamin-A deficit nation. Not everyone in India can afford nutritious food, the report indicated. The report showed India scored the highest in food availability (51.3) but lowest
I have just joined in the department of economic affairs, ministry of finance, as joint secretary in charge of World Bank–IMF related work. I am in the seventh heaven of bureaucracy, so to speak. My batch got empanelled as joint secretary a few months back and most of my batch-mates would have gladly given their right hand to be in the place that I have managed to bag. In the IAS, there i
The planning commission has suggested the idea of allowing higher education institutions to run for-profit. In the final draft of 12th Five Year Plan, the commission has incorporated this suggestion despite strong opposition from the ministry of the HRD. The commission argues that the philanthropy-driven institutions do not have the resources to bridge the demand supply gap in higher ed
Incredible it may sound but National Knowledge Network (NKN) chairperson and advisor to the prime minister on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations (PIII) Sam Pitroda did hold a press conference on social networking site Twitter. In the name of `democratisation of information` (He "created a hash-tag #DoI" formally), Pitroda answered queries on the social networking site
When renowned Hindi writer Phanishwar Nath Renu wrote of Purnea in Bihar in the 1950s in ‘Maila Aanchal’, his protagonist, a doctor who chose to stay in the village observed from the closest quarters social backwardness, illiteracy, grief, ignorance, superstitions, social exploitation and struggle and diseases like malaria and black fever (both killed many in those times). T
