Passionate About India

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’...

As if the slaughter of around 1000 innocent villagers (since 2005) – who were handed guns in the year 2005 under the people’s vigilante movement called ‘Salwa Judum’ – was not enough, now other states like Manipur are also replicating the same. It is nothing less than outrageous that just like when the Chhattisgarh government had decided to hand over guns to innocent villagers, to ostensibly fend for themselves against the onslaught of militant Naxalites, the Manipur government too has decided to move in the same direction. It is reported that the state government has taken a decision to arm some 500 villagers with .303 rifles (300 at Heirok in Toubal and 200 at Lilong Chajing) and form a similar people’s vigilante group against the Naxals. It has also been reported that once trained, each one of these villagers would be paid a sum of Rs 3,000 per month!! This decision is no less than shocking, as instead of scrapping the entire Salwa Judum movement, various other state governments are...

It seems that the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is all set to gift away a comfortable victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies in the forthcoming Union elections, with the latter doing nothing much to earn it. Looking at the way things are happening, it is as if history is repeating itself. It was not very long ago that onions had taken away the sheen of whatever good work that the then National Democratic Alliance had done. The electorate had then ruthlessly stripped them of their power, showcasing the crude fact that the Indian electorate posses extremely short memories, particularly when it comes to elections. And this time, none else is realising it more than the ruling UPA. They realise that gone is the euphoria they created by gifting the huge Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver for farmers in this year’s annual budget, and that too barely two months ago. And gone along with it is the positive sentiment that was created by the increase in the non-taxable income fr...

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...

At a point in time, when millions of poor and disadvantaged households across the nation are reeling under the scorching rise in prices of basic goods and commodities, the recent announcement of the Government of India (as suggested by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector) to provide a cashless health insurance scheme for the 300 million people below the poverty line, has been a welcome relief! In fact, the scheme was announced by the Honourable Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, during his Union Budget speech this year itself. As per the announcement, the scheme is slated to cover all the 300 million people below the poverty line, within the next five years. It is estimated that the premium per family will come to Rs.750, of which the Centre will be paying 75% and the rest 25% will be borne by the respective state governments. The Planning Commission has announced that the entitlement of the benefits to the people would be determined by the respective st...

My dear readers must first be told a little about the country they live in, to understand the story I am about to tell in the right perspective. India is the land where we have defined the poverty line at a shameful level of about Rs 450 per person per month (shame we don’t call it the destitution line)! And below this shameful definition of poverty line lies 29% of our population. When we give a reasonably respectable definition of Rs 750 per capita per month (though the worldwide accepted definition of poverty line is a dollar a day ie Rs 1,200 per capita per month), we find roughly 65% of our population falling below the poverty line! That means in India, more than 65% of the people earn less than Rs 750 per head per month! Given that definition of poor, the definition of rich would definitely be those earning more than Rs 3,000 per capita (i.e Rs 15,000 per month for a family of 5) in the context of the country we are talking about. If it shocks you, then for your comfort, let me c...

While the world was about to acknowledge the Chinese ascension in the 21st century through its hosting of the Olympics this year, the ghost of the typical Chinese style persecution and how human rights still remain an alien concept in this supposedly 5000-year-old civilisation has stared haunting all over again. Last heard, the unofficial figures are put at a death toll of 80, while the Chinese media puts it at not more than 13!! Strangely, despite the incredible economic growth and even putting behind the First World in terms of manufacturing feat, the gap between Chinese and non-Chinese media when it comes to estimation of figures still remain very pertinent. While the world assumed that China as a country has come a long way from the days of Tiananmen Square, and while many thought that economic maturity and prosperity would somehow soften the Chinese regime with respect to human rights, the sheer threat of use of force and brutal subjugation that is coming from the Chinese regime e...