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The world’s worst-performing Olympic country?
With the Olympic Games in Beijing scheduled to begin at 8 am on the 8th day of the 8th year, Foreign Policy magazine lists the “The World’s Worst Olympians“. On top …
CNN-IBN clarifies on role in cash-for-votes sting
Caught in the cross-fire in the cash-for-votes scandal that rocked the trust motion in Parliament on July 22, Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN, has issued a statement on the channel’s purported …
Biggest. Largest. Highest. Mostest. Anywhere.
ASHVINI A. writes from Bangalore: The Bangalore edition of The Hindu has a piece today on the second unit of the Global Education Centre coming up on the Mysore campus …
Whodunit? Depends on who you want to believe.
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: The one crore rupees that were tabled in the Lok Sabha —the sanctum sanctorum of our democracy—has naturally created tremors across the world. “Whodunit?” is the question newspapers …
One question I’m dying to ask Sushma Swaraj
If the grisly sight of bombs tearing off lives and limbs in Ahmedabad and Bangalore doesn’t get your stomach churning, the conspiracy theorising by our political parties should. Sushma Swaraj, …
Is the Kargil victory something to be ashamed of?
At a little past 11.30 pm last Saturday, an SMS came from Sudheendra Murali, a friend in Bangalore: “Kargil Forgotten.” To a South Indian with not a single member of the …
What if Kalavathi lived behind Rahul’s house?
Each time they open their mouth, Indian politicians try to show how much they are in contact with the aam admi and aam aurat. On election tours, they hop off …
Hi-tech terrorism needs hi-tech public relations
VINUTHA MALLYA writes: After the ‘blasted’ weekend in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, electricity transformers, unmanned bicycles and parked cars are drawing suspicious looks… until the ‘Indian Mujahideen’ invents its next bomb. …
‘The mask of morality lies in dustbin of history’
M.J. Akbar, the former Asian Age editor widely believed to have lost his job due to his opposition to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, continues with his relentless assault on …
CHURUMURI POLL: Should Shivaraj Patil resign?
An astonishing aspect of the current political atmosphere is the complete lack of accountability—or demands for it. Heads are demanded and heads roll when a politician is caught in some …
Do you have it in you to go hungry on August 15?
BHAMY V. SHENOY writes: The attacks on two cities, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, in the space of two days, July 25 and July 26, is comparable to 9/11, if not in scale, …
Once upon a time, it was Each One Teach One
Generally speaking, public service initiatives are grim, boring affairs. But the “Teach India” campaign launched by The Times of India in collaboration with United Nations Volunteers—and modelled along the lines of the Teach …
Pakistan scares cricketers. Why doesn’t India?
ALOK PRASANNA writes from Bangalore: Another set of serial blasts in an Indian city. Ho hum. Shrill and breathless reporters causing panic and confusion while telling people that there is …
When the mighty pen starts helping the sword
Writer and lyricist Jayant Kaikini in Deccan Herald: “I am angry at the way the electronic media is making use of the incident and hyping it with a view on TRPs. …
At this rate, rest assured, your number will come
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: Terror struck the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11 and a few other places same day. That was in 2001, seven years ago. A couple …
Civilian security is a joke and the joke is on you
Thirty-two months after an Indian Institute of Technology professor was killed on the campus of the Indian Institute of Science, “terror” returned to the pensioners’ paradise that no longer is, …
The diabetic, the valve pin, and the little finger
K. JAVEED NAYEEM writes: It was a day like any other and I was going through my daily routine of halting at every traffic light as is usual at the …
How Kannada films can help spread Kannada
RAVEESH KUMAR writes from Bangalore: Can Kannada cinema be the ambassador for Kannada language? This question has been in my mind for some time now although there have been lots of …
The speech that blew away an entire nation
The spectre of Barack Obama hangs heavy over young Indian politicians. Can they talk as well? Can they be as spontaneous? Can they inspire as many? Can they strike a …
Was CNN-IBN right not to air Amar Singh sting?
Tuesday’s disgraceful scenes in the Lok Sabha—when three BJP MPs heaped currency notes of nearly Rs 1 crore to show that they were being bribed to abstain from the trust …
Eight-and-a-half lessons from trust vote tamasha
1) Before the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement (not “deal”, as Pranab Mukherjee pointed out) lights up a single 60-watt bulb, it has caused a tectonic change in our politics. There …
The reply the PM wasn’t allowed to deliver
The Leader of Opposition, L.K. Advani has chosen to use all manner of abusive objectives to describe my performance. He has described me as the weakest Prime Minister, a nikamma …
1991 liberalised economy, 2008 liberalised polity
Towards draw of stumps on day one, Team Manmohan looks like it might score 271 in 20 hours. Or it might not. But sometime in the year 2025, seventeen years …
Lok Sabha TV: Programme highlights for July 22
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN scoops the programming highlights of the Lok Sabha channel for Tuesday, 22 July 2008: *** Highlights for 22 July 2008 0000 Movie: Dealwale dulhaniya le jayange (continued) 0130 Midnight Masala …
National interest is a very dodgy business indeed
M.J. Akbar in Khaleej Times: “Dr Manmohan Singh can now be held responsible for both economic and political inflation, a rare achievement…. “There is already an SMS doing the rounds …