Editorial

Chinese Olympics versus the Indian Commonwealth Games – a tale of two attitudes!

The saga of shame of the Indian Commonwealth Games continues as more and more shameful skeletons tumble out of the cupboard. And it only makes my heart cringe.

Special Report

For Christ's sake!

Two key factions of Kerala's Christians are at loggerheads over the right to worship in a church located in Kolencherry, near Kochi.

Special Story

Neo intellectuals

You could scarcely believe that the once mighty dons of Bihar politics, who between them controlled trunk loads of money and thousands of underlings, should undergo such a dramatic change of heart, not to mention perception.

A state of limbo

The Naga-Kuki conflict in Manipur, where Assembly elections are due early next year, has festered for four decades.

Musings

Crack before the quake

Of late, earthquakes have sent some unwanted jitters down the spines of the citizens residing in the North and the North-Eastern regions of the country.

Business

Can Bharat compete with India?

India has always been termed as an agrarian economy, but not much has been done to utilise the massive potential of the rural market. It is indeed sad that there have been three major industrial policies since Independence, but not one for agriculture, which was once the prime GDP earner for the economy.

Arts

A question of culture

Somehow, every time I took a break from reading Ritual, Heritage and Identity, the thought that came to my mind was: While I was reading, I could see the fine lines of differences that the three words of the title conjure up.

Movie Review

Most romantic comedies are sappy and thoroughly predictable, and while Crazy, Stupid, Love is definitely of the same genre, within the first few minutes we know that this movie has a story to tell and is definitely among the smarter ones of its genre.

Bollywood’s heavyweight: Ajay Devgn!

“In those times, when we used to perform stunts we would definitely get hurt, but these days there are so many equipments, boxes and mats that it has become easier to do action sequences”

Undercover

The silver lining, finally

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is in news again. The state run bus transport company that has been only incurring losses since its inception days of 1971 is now finally experiencing success in its corporate history.

Making a difference

The recent visit of the charismatic and appealing Turkish Prime Minister Recap Tayyip Erdogan to the Middle East has not only taken the world by surprise but also spurred speculations.

Life

Root cause

Jayati Chakraborty chucked her lucrative job at TISCO, Jamshedpur a decade back. Every dawn now, she gets up to the drum beats from a far-flung santhal village. Originally belonging to Jorhat, Assam, she had hardly any idea about these adivasis on the edge of survival.

Indian Echoes

Commissions of inquiry

Is the Orissa state government using judicial inquiry commissions as a shield to pacify public outrage on issues relating to law and order?

Roping in the Prime Minister

The November 18 elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), known as the Sikh's mini parliament, suddenly sent tremors of another kind in Punjab's religio-political circles.

Presidency battles

The council of the Presidency University, (formerly Presidency College) nominated by the Left Front government, has been dissolved by the state’s higher education department on September 13 and rechristened the Mentor Group, set up by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, as the new council.

Rear Window

Expedite Guru’s hanging

Afzal Guru, prime accused in the conspiracy to attack the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, has been awarded sentenced to death. The trial court, high court and the Supreme Court were all unanimous that the incident fell within the ambit of the rarest of rare cases, deserving the death sentence.

Far Pavilion

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

One of the most interesting anecdotes about Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was told to me by my Russian friend and an analyst Paul Koshik.

History Mail

Henry O. Flipper to John Hull

In 1877 Henry Ossian Flipper became the first African American to graduate from the US Military Academy at West Point. He was also the first African American commissioned officer in the US Army. Despite being found not guilty of embezzlement at trial, an attempt to hide a shortfall in funds in 1881 saw him dismissed from the Army for 'conduct unbecoming an officer & gentleman'. He fought tirelessly to clear his name until his death in 1940.

Dear Editor

The winners of Rs 3,000 are...

It refers to "State of the Nation...” (TSI, Sept 19-25). It is a common belief that the BJP would always gain at the expense of Congress and vice-versa, but surprisingly this is not clear through your survey. The BJP is gaining from its present position but it is not emerging a clear winner on its own.

Letters to Editor

I fully concur with the views expressed by Prasoon S Majumdar in his column ‘Tax the wealthy’ (TSI, Sept 19-25) wherein he advocates the need to raise the tax on the wealthy. It is an accepted fact that the rich in the country have devised several methods to dodge taxes and most of them have brilliant chartered accountants who are well versed with the art of camouflaging their incomes and manoeuvring their gains in such a way that they are able to evade tax to the maximum extent possible.