Indian state vote may be first step to Modi versus Gandhi face-off
Report by Ross Colvin and Satarupa Bhattacharjya, NEW DELHI | Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:40pm EST (Reuters) – India’s Gujarat state will hold a potentially game-changing vote on Thursday that could help decide More...
Insight: How Sonia Gandhi was persuaded to back India reforms
(Reuters) – It had been a brutal August for India’s Congress party: economic growth was wilting, the monsoon rains were failing and the opposition had it cornered on yet another corruption scandal. In More...
Modi and the Mahatma, who was more guilty?
Narendra Modi after Godhra and Mahatma Gandhi after the Khilafat were forced to deal with the violent aftermath. But there are striking differences between the way the two dealt with them. Also, Modi had nothing More...
Beyond Corruption II – Degradation Begets Dysfunction
Column by Navaratna S. Rajaram - The dysfunction of the state was facilitated by a systematic degradation of the values and institutions of the nation. This has encouraged the elite and the leaders to prosper by More...
The Great Wall of Silence
Column by M.J. Akbar What is the difference between Indians and Pakistanis? The answer is uncomplicated: there is no difference. We are the same people, with similar personality strengths, and parallel collective More...
Time for another government
Column by M.J. Akbar – There are enough saints to fill a thick register, but few who etch an impression on the collective memory. St Augustine, who lived between 354 and 430, has left such an indelible mark More...
SL Bhyrappa on Distorting History – Marxist Monopoly (Part 2)
Introduced and edited by Navaratna Rajaram, Contributing Editor, Folks Magazine Editor’s Note: In his previous column S.L. Bhyrappa recounted his experience while serving on a government appointed committee that More...
Ever Irrational Indian National Congress
The Congress party that was founded by an Englishman may be ended by an Italian woman. It has always looked to foreigners and foreign sources for inspiration. Recent election results show that this ploy of projecting More...
The Ripple Effect
Column by M.J. Akbar - For the first 54 years of India’s democracy Uttar Pradesh provided seven out of eight Prime Ministers, three from three generations of the same family. The exception, Morarji Desai of More...
At the drop of a tear
Column by M.J. Akbar – Tears are a fragile weapon in public life. Their success rate is so low that it is rarely wise to display them. People check what kind of tears they are. Sentiment can be a powerful More...
