Passionate About India

With all due respect to the reports published by United Nations and other similar global bodies, there are certain anomalies that nobody points out, at least publicly. These anomalies have been going on for years, if not decades, falling in line with Western interests. Even if we track global history in the post-World War II period, these irregularities are vivid and clear. For example, Japan was for long considered an emerging economy, rather than a fully developed one, despite its per capita income being higher than the many so-called developed nations. The same pattern still persists with other nations, like South Korea, which is even now considered an emerging country, although its per capita income (in PPP terms) is higher than Spain’s and at par with Italy’s (both Spain and Italy are recognized as developed nations). The G-7 club was formed on the basis of the seven biggest economies among developed nations coming together. Now, with South Korea’s GDP size in PPP terms becoming ...

I was watching a movie in the first floor of our house that fateful afternoon of '94 when that call came and changed our lives forever. It was my mother who had called from the ground floor of our house to inform me through her uncontrollable tears that she had just then received a call that my younger brother had died in a road accident. I rushed down hoping against hope that it was someone else. My dad was sure it wouldn't be someone else – as I drove our car frantically towards Gurgaon where the accident had happened – and advised me to drive slowly. He had done his maximum possible to see to it that we never developed a fascination for motorbikes. An avid reader of about a dozen papers everyday, my father was definite that a motorbike was a sure-shot route to disaster on Indian roads. So the soonest he could, he bought a car for us. I still remember that day in 1993, after he had bought a fifth-hand 1977 model Toyota, he entered the house, lay down on the bed in a relaxed m...

When Barack Obama occupied the White House around six months back, expectations from him were tremendous! A considerable amount of this expectation building can be credited to his predecessor, who had done so much of damage that people all across the globe were waiting desperately for the big change in America’s highest office. And the rest of the credit goes to Obama’s mind blowing speech that he delivered in Illinois post his win, which further exponentially compounded those very expectations that people had of and from him. So not only were those beleaguered Americans residing in the US and their brethren marines in Iraq expecting a miracle from the new President elect, but also people from all shades of life all across the world, who eagerly accepted that change had finally come. In fact, it was not surprising to observe that Iranians sitting in Teheran had as much faith in Obama bringing change to the Middle East as a Chinese sitting in Beijing. All of a sudden, it seemed that ho...

I recently came across an intriguing research, conducted by a Washington based research group. The research analysed the news reports for the month of April and found out that the American Presidential campaign has taken up almost 33% of the editorial space, followed by general economy which took almost 6%. The Pope’s visit and the Texas polygamy case equally shared an editorial space of 4% each. It is intriguing that as bodies of innocent American soldiers and that of equally innocent Iraqi’s kept falling, it could garner only 3% of editorial space!! It is not to draw any conclusion whether the American Presidential campaign is more important than Iraq, but then the media coverage in itself indicates that though Iraq is a burning global issue, the American media doesn’t feel likewise, otherwise it would not have given a mere 3% space. And the bigger issue here is that by reducing media space over a period of time, the American media is systematically trying to take Iraq out of people’...

I write this editorial in context of the ongoing food and financial crisis that the world is reeling under and coupled with other reasons how the United States had been instrumental in creating this global catastrophe. It all started in March of 2003, when President George Bush’s Administration decided to engage Iraq, to capture those ‘WMDs’ which the Late Saddam Hussain possessed. At that time oil prices were hovering around USD 25-30 per barrel and everything seemed to be in order as far as the economics of energy was concerned. And then Iraq happened, and with it changed the global oil economics forever. Till date, Iraq has cost the US upwards of USD 2 trillion but worse than that has been the effect that Iraq engagement had on the global oil prices, throwing everything off balance. Five years since Iraq (the second largest oil supplier in the world) went into war, and as a result all supplies got disrupted from there, oil now trades at USD 100 per barrel!! And this cataclysmic rise...

What is the expected outcome, when you have a haughty cowboy President, an arrogant administration and a seemingly stooge in the form of a Supreme Court? Well, no prizes for guessing, you get some blindly dictatorial American laws for the globe. In fact, this time, President Bush and his ‘Administration’ have surpassed all the limits of deforming any civilised society by claiming that they can ‘kidnap’ any foreigner, if they are wanted for crimes in the United States of America. What more, they have the sanction of their Supreme Court as well. In fact, till now it was assumed that American law permits kidnapping only of terror suspects under ‘extraordinary redemption’, but recently it was made clear that the US can kidnap ‘anyone’ who is a criminal in the eyes of America. For that matter, even ‘extraordinary redemption’ is in itself unlawful. On top of this, kidnapping ‘anyone’ who is a criminal in the eyes of America, is a crime without doubt, at least in a civilised and working democ...

The verdict on Saddam is out. The striking aspect of this news coverage were the two contrasting scenarios that evolved in most of the media reports globally. One was that of the celebration (on account of the verdict) within the Shia community of Baghdad, while the other was the contrast of despair and angst amongst the Sunnis. This, perhaps, is not just about Baghdad alone. Throughout the world, reactions have been divided between the Shias or Sunnis. And I have a strong feeling that the ramification of this verdict would be beyond the capacity of Americans to control. Iraq would once again erupt in another round of violence of vengeance, and probably the Sunnis, who have been at the receiving end, would fight back, amply aided this time by the Sunni dominant nations of the Middle East. And if the US stays on, then all that would go back is the number of body bags.I am not trying to justify that Saddam did not get the right verdict, neither am I portraying him as a ‘would be’ martyr....