A fresh wave of anti-Indianism has erupted in Pakistan following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent statements on Balochistan. Former dictator General Pervez Musharraf said in a television interview that Modi was “crazy”. He condemned the Baloch leaders who had thanked Modi for expressing concern over the state of human rights[Read More…]
I have been living in south Delhi’s posh Alaknanda area for three years now. It’s a peaceful area with several apartments named after rivers and standalone homes that rub shoulders from the neighbouring Greater Kailash-II. It’s close enough to the Bengali ghetto of CR Park for me to revisit my[Read More…]
Bullet riddled bodies, mass graves and raped women – no, this isn’t anything about the ISIS in Syria but something close to our backyard. That’s what the daily scene looks like in Balochistan. Since the day Pakistan came into being, Balochistan has bled every single day. Military operation, enforced disappearance[Read More…]
When the last legislation was passed by constituent assembly led to the creation of the two independent nations – India and Pakistan, nobody would have imagined how the tale of these two nations would proceed. Though Gandhi and Jinnah are referred to as fathers of India and Pakistan respectively, it was Dr. BR Ambedkar on whose ideas the[Read More…]
There is so much talk of how the passengers on the Emirates flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai rushing to rescue their cabin luggage instead of themselves. I have lived in the Gulf for many years and have traveled on these flights. Most of the people on the flight especially from[Read More…]
Recent fact sheet in India Today magazine had some noteworthy facts. It noted that while not even 30 % of world’s lawmakers are women, in India the number is even lower, just about 12%. After 60 odd years of one of the largest and most vibrant democracy these numbers come[Read More…]
Ours is a young nation. Yes, our history goes back to the dawn of time but the story of the new generation is still being written. Our forefathers understood the importance of the opportunity that should be given to everyone without any discrimination to determine for themselves how they want[Read More…]
“How hard to read, O Soul, The riddle of life here and life beyond ! As hard as in the pearl to pierce a hole Without the needle-point of diamond. day.” ~ Princess Zebun-Nisa We often hear of her aunts the famous Princess Jahanara and Princess Roshanara, sometimes of[Read More…]
As prime time television debates heat up on the issue of radicalism in Kashmir, the venom of digital terrorism seems to be taking centre stage – from Kashmir to Kerala, the tentacles have spread far and wide. Burhan Wani is the new poster boy for the new age extremists. But[Read More…]
From the age of two, I had a childhood passion to join Indian army and serve my mother land, India, but this was shattered when I started losing my eye-sight from the age of seven due to macular degeneration, which causes loss in the centre of the field of vision.[Read More…]
You become a woman in India, as in many parts of the world, not through adolescence. We reach it through multiple tests by fire. As a young girl you are taught to avoid certain roads that are unsafe, wear clothes that are “safe”, ignore catcalls and eve-teasers, and aided by[Read More…]
Hu Jintao highlighted soft power in his political report to the 17th Party Congress of October 2007, stressing the urgency of building China’s cultural soft power sufficiently to meet domestic needs and increase international competitiveness. Hu Jintao, Former President of PRC Power in ordinary usage is understood as an ability,[Read More…]
Another day of curfew, another day of violence, another day of uncertainty, another day of horror, another day of miseries…that’s what the fate of the people of Kashmir has become these days. Can you imagine living in a place where you will go out of your house but you are[Read More…]
I first met Raj Babbar in the latter half of 2009. He had just made it to the Lok Sabha after defeating Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav in a byelection that was necessitated after Mulayam’s resignation. I had started the conversation by congratulating him on the great victory and[Read More…]
After the Facebook post of a Manipuri girl accusing an immigration officer of alleged racial slur went viral on social media earlier this week, there has been much speculation about racism yet again. In our discourse, such discussions come to the fore only in the aftermath of crimes, be it[Read More…]
Almost the entire state of Kashmir is under curfew. Do you know what curfew means? It means each and everybody in the area is under house arrest. You cannot go out of your house even if it is an emergency. The CRPF and army can do anything. You don’t get[Read More…]
What constitutes as a matter of national interest? Adult Indians enjoying porn within the confines of their homes or Indians, irrespective of age, having access to hate speech? So how is it that the government banned 857 porn sites a year ago with such alacrity and failed to monitor an[Read More…]
India and all of its precious resources are focused on bringing the nation to the “big boy’s table” of developed countries. It is a natural and an important ambition to possess. But making a nation great is not a sprint, rather it’s a marathon and to be truly recognized as[Read More…]
Social media is a great disrupter in the field of communication. It is slowly turning other means of communication obsolete. Twitter and Facebook have become major sources of information for many of us now. I use Twitter as my primary source of news. In fact, I have created a Twitter[Read More…]
Acrimony among unicorn startups is the latest trend. Gone are the days when companies made their dissent for the competition known in hushed circles. Today’s startups are far more aggressive. After several Twitter repartees between online e-tailers, Snapdeal and Flipkart, the latest fight is between taxi aggregators, Ola and Uber.[Read More…]
The merciless and brutal killing of people by terrorists in Dhaka shocked the world. Although it happened on the night of 1 July, I came to know about it the next morning when I switched on the TV and saw the news. It was heart-wrenching! Reactions started pouring in from Bangladesh[Read More…]
Salman Khan is not the first, and he won’t be the last to use the analogy of rape, in jest. But, let’s analyze the analogy, and, see if the connotations of rape work in the context. And, if it is an ‘apt’ analogy as someone says it is. Let’s compare[Read More…]
In order to appreciate the recent crisis faced by the Delhi Government over the appointment of the 21 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries and its political consequences, we need to understand the underlying issues involved from a Constitutional perspective. The source of the office-of-profit disqualification is found in[Read More…]
It was a hot summer afternoon in 2012 and 2G judge OP Saini’s courtroom was packed to capacity. Among those waiting for the judge was Dr Subramanian Swamy, a co-petitioner with Prashant Bhushan in the 2G case. And the judgement to be delivered was no ordinary one. Dr Swamy had[Read More…]
