RESEARCH

Subramanian Swamy's allegat ion of Soni a-Rahul Gandhi indulging in a Rs 1,600 crore fraud contains questions more credible than the points of defence pu t up by the Congress, n otwithstanding the fact that every allegation by the Janata Party president is viewed by his detractors through the lenses of his past record of frequently changing alliances, communal diatribes and intemperate attacks on the person of his target at a given point of time “S ince when has it become legal for a political party to extend a loan?” Subramanian Swamy asks, questioning what appears a dubious business transaction between a dysfunctional media house, whose newspaper was launched by the first prime minister of the country, and a purported non-profit company, the majority stakes of which are held by the Indian National Congress's first family. The question is valid. Attacking his decade-long pet hate Seeking an explanation as to why a general body meeting of shareholders of Associ...

क्या रसोई की छोटी-मोटी ज़रूरियात के लिए आप वाहन से इतनी दूर पधारेंगे? दे शीय व्यवसायों के स्वार्थ की रक्षा के नाम पर पिछले कई सालों से जगह-जगह एक पाखण्ड का मंचन हो रहा है। दावा यह है कि यह स्वदेशी जागरण या आंदोलन है। परन्तु इन मंचों पर एकत्र वक्ताओं और नीचे जुटे श्रोताओं पर एक नज़र दौड़ाइए तो यह स्वदेशी नहीं बल्कि स्व-बनिया अभियान सा प्रतीत होता है। बोलने वाले दुकानदार, सुनने वाले भी दुकानदार; या फिर ऐसी राजनैतिक पार्टी के लोग जो पार्टी मूलतः इन्हीं दुकानदारों के चंदे से चलती है। प्रतिपक्ष की सबसे बड़ी पार्टी इस मामले में कितना पाखण्डी है यह  इस रपट  ( http://m.indianexpress. com/story_mobile.php?storyid= 882221 ) से जानिये। वैसे आज भारतीय जनता पार्टी विपक्ष की भूमिका उसी प्रकार निभा रही है जैसे सन् २००२ ई० में कांग्रेस ने निभाई थी। उस वर्ष १६ दिसंबर को आज की सत्तारूढ़ पार्टी ने मुख्य प्रतिपक्ष के नाते संसद में कैसी शंका जताई थी यह  इन उद्धृतियों  ( http://www. indiankanoon.org/doc/1378142/ )  से जानिये। इस मामले में सरकार का यदि कोई दोष है तो वह...

This Indian Express page one anchor is a classic case exposing how little journalists know what is happening on the activism front At centre of stirs against graft, a body with RSS links, ex-babus I n the story referred to above, correspondent Manoj CG jumps to a facile conclusion based on random quotes without delving deep into the facts, that too more than a year since the events alluded to in the story transpired. While it is a fact that two members of India against Corruption  —  Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi  —  were among the empanelled speakers in Vivekananda International Foundation-hosted seminar on 1 and 2 April 2011, it was no way a bid to either shape the respective movements led by Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev or bring the two civil society leaders together, much as the second is desired and has been a constant endeavour for the last two years on the part of many RSS  swayamsevak s. Following are the facts beyond what Manoj reports: Th...

How Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Co took the unassuming people of this country for a ride [ Click on the headline to hear Shambhu Dutt Sharma speak ] T he 5-8 April spectacle at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, was nothing but a corporate conspiracy of expending the energies of the Great Indian Huddle-and-Muddle Class, as mass mobilisation by Baba Ramdev and satyagraha by veteran Gandhian Shambhu Dutt Sharma was making them increasingly jittery. The unfolding of the events also suggests, at least in hindsight and going by the confessions of a drunk journalist, that the UPA Government was complicit in the act of trickery. When the pressure was building up : Baba Ramdev addressing a rally at Ramlila Maidan on 27 February 2011; the group went on to submit a memorandum containing 10 demands to the President To grab maximum eyeballs, the show was timed conveniently to fall between the end of the ICC World Cup tournament and the beginning of DLF-sponsored Indian Premier Leag...

Response to Purnima S Tripathi's article [ click on the headline for the Frontline feature ] F rom an editor's perspective, I see some loopholes in the writer's argument. First, it's a leftist viewpoint, which dictates that profit-making PSUs should not be divested. As per the point of view of an advocate of liberal market, however, government has no business being in the telecom trade; it must confine itself to social sectors. It further dictates that governments cannot sustain the vibrancy of a company in the long run, no matter how sound the fundamentals of the company are at the time of disinvestment. Second, when the writer says, "Industry experts... pointed out that the company was doing well... ," one wonders who these "experts" are, as none is quoted to that effect in the article. Prabir Purkayastha, whose views are explained in the next paragraph, appears to be the only person on whose views the article is based. And he cannot b...

... India and the Games' apologists blame the victim — Indians — for not being nationalistic enough A n international games event is often hosted in a place with the aim to uplift the local economy. The Commonwealth Games has so far served this purpose well in several cities in various countries that hosted them (this event is strictly associated with the hosting city and not the hosting country). Prime among these examples is the 2002 chapter that was held in Manchester that was passing through its worst phase of unemployment, a fallout of the closure of hundreds of textile mills the city has historically been known for. The city received a considerable facelift as a result, and at least 20,000 jobs were created as a direct result of the infrastructure upgrade. The most prominent of the economic changes observed by the city because of the 2002 Commonwealth Games was Microsoft, the company that took charge of the cyber support for the event, making the city its European headquarter...