Remove every corrupt judge

The judiciary enjoys vast powers as it is final and infallible, so powerful that when an executive violates the law the judges can quash their action and issue directions in exercise of the writ power

A not-so-sweet sixteen

The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is riddled with flaws. The principal one is that the Bengal government runs the show. When a festival of this nature is managed by the government, it can only be bad news.

Muslims versus modernity

The story of Indian Muslims is indeed a story of constant decay and decline in the last 150 years. Imagine, the community that ruled the Indian sub-continent till 1857 now wallows in backwardness. None gives a better picture of the Indian Muslims

Tale of a close encounter

It was almost 40 years back that I had my first audience with His Holiness. He had known about my books and writings. He asked me if I knew Sanskrit. I said I did. Then he asked his secretary to bring a book and asked me

Ball is in Dispur's court

November 8, 2010. It was the day US President Barack Obama addressed Indian parliamentarians in New Delhi. That very night, the NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) a banned rebel outfit, carried out a vendetta carnage in Assam

The Most corrupt state?

The question is a no-brainer. There’s no competition. Take a bow, Karnataka. You win hands down. From being considered one of the more secular, sensitive states in south India to being `hailed’ as the most corrupt state in the entire country

Gandhian, not Maoist

During his visit to India, President Obama had initially planned to visit Golden Temple. But the plan was shelved because he had to wear a headgear to enter the sanctum sanctorum

Non-violence is not easy

In the last two and a half decades, Narmada Bachao Andolan has been a great learning experience for me. But the aspect that has influenced me the most is my belief in the non-violent

A covert imprisonment

George Orwell – born as Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, Bihar, on June 25, 1903 – may be laughing in glee in his grave today with a hidden conceit as his words:

Supermarts a super risk

Nowhere in the world has the advent of big retail helped the long-term cause of the farmer

My memories of Bapu

Barun Das Gupta recounts the compassion of the Mahatma that he witnessed first hand.

Plainspeak - Times they are a-changin'

Babri conundrum - Human blood is precious

Kashmir - People want to move on

Farmers’ woes Whose land is it anyway?