Good discussion with my predecessor, now
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, on Indn relns w Africa &
Latin
excellent dinner w Nandan Nilekani, the other new import into
natnl govt. He will make a huge transformative impact on the lives
of Indns
The 19 scheduled mtgs became 21. Breakfasted w Haneef Haroon,
editor of Pakistan's Dawn newsppr. Caught up w old Geneva friends
Harsh&Veena
And launched a novel: Jaishree Misra's "Secrets&Lies" - a
title which made many assume it must be a book about politics or
diplomacy!
Over 1000 students at AMU for my lecture on why foreign policy
matters. Good, tough qsns as well. Glad to engage Aligarh (&
Kochi last wk)
1500 to be exact, and they listened in utter silence, which I am
told isn't always the case in a campus that has often turned
rowdy
Haven't read Jaswant's Jinnah book yet, but as a writer I don't
think anyone shld be expelled from a party for writing a book
But then some parties have a higher tolerance for heresies.
Congress is a big tent, with greater room for different points of
view
AMU has a lovely campus - lush green, white bldgs. Famous alumni
incl Badshah Khan, Zafar Iqbal, VP Hamid Ansari & Naseeruddin
Shah
Both AMU &St Stephen's produced an Indn President (ZakirHusain
& Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed respectively) + a Pak Presdt (Ayub Khan
&Ziaul Haq)!
tdy1st World Humanitarian Day. Anniv of 2003 Baghdad bomb blast
that killed my friend UN rep Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others.
Remember!
Just landed in Tvm on short Kerala visit. Leader Karunakaran in
adjoining seat. Amazingly self-sufficient 92 year old, returning fm
CWC mtg
Goo
INDI POST - Our take on the daily news and events in India's public space
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Special Plans To Tackle Sehwag: Steyn
South African fast bowler Dale Steyn said on Thursday that the battering he took in Chennai and the defeat in Kanpur in 2008.
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Tight Security For Rahul In City Today
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday asked his party workers to greet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with black flags during his visit to Mumbai on Friday.
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No Plans To Obstruct Rahul's Visit: Uddhav
Big or small, almost every leader has dipped his fingers into the sticky political conundrum be it the Shah Rukh Khan-Shiv Sena spat, the Marathi question or the presence of North Indians in the city.
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25-yr Sena-BJP Marriage On Rocks?
Cracks in the 25-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra have begun to appear, so much so that the allies are talking about divorcing each other. BJP leader Vinay Katiyar on Monday openly demanded severing of ties.
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Oscar, Padma & now Grammy For Rahman
A R Rahman scored a double triumph at the Grammy Awards in LA, scooping two early honours for his music from Oscar-winning film 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
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Afridi In The Eye Of Storm Post Ball-Biting Episode
Shahid Afridi on Monday made a feeble attempt at defending his ban-inviting ball-biting antic in Perth before making a
startling allegation that all teams indulge in such ball-tampering acts. -
Protect North Indians From Attacks
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has taken on the MNS and the Shiv Sena by coming out in support of north Indians in Maharashtra.
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Army chief overruled by Antony
Defence Minister A K Antony has directed the Army to court martial one of its seniormost Generals who was indicted by an Army court of inquiry.
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Centre Revokes Prepaid Mobile Ban In J&K
Stringent conditions have been imposed on service providers requiring 100% verification and re-verification of prepaid customers.
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To be a Mumbai cabbie, learn Marathi
Drivers of privately owned fleet taxi services in Mumbai must know to read, write and speak in Marathi.
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TCS to offer salary hikes, step up hiring
TCS global head of HR Ajoy Mukherjee said the company has decided to give salary increments during financial year ending March 2011, although the exact quantum of hike is yet to be decided.
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BSF Nabs Teenaged Pak Suicide Bomber
A ''suicide bomber'' from Pakistan was arrested on Thursday after troopers of the Border Security Force (BSF) caught him doing a reconnaissance of the area at the Attari international border in this frontier district of Punjab.
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Gurdwara Set Ablaze in Australia
In yet another attack targeted at Indians in Australia, miscreants set on fire an under-construction gurdwara in Melbourne, triggering off an outcry in India.
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Leaders pay tribute to Jyoti Basu
Leaders cutting across the political spectrum today mourned the death of veteran Marxist Jyoti Basu, describing him as a towering personality and a powerful regional voice who had played crucial roles in the national political scene.
Read Expert Blogs
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August 25, 2009, 9:4 AM
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Jyoti Malhotra
Freelance journalist based in New Delhi writes on Indian politics and foreign policy.
Latest Post-
India-Pak concerns in Kabul
July 12, 2009, 5:11 PMAs I chatted up the hotel's computer wizard in my Kabul hotel last week (he was a young 20-ish-year-old kid in glasses and a soft smile, who had spent most of his life in refugee camps in Peshawar city in northern Pakistan, while the Taliban ran the country back home), I asked him how things were these days in Afghanistan.We spoke in Urdu, the language that is common to India and Pakistan, and because I wore the shalwar-kameez, a dress that is also common to both countries, Hasan, the young gentleman in question, seemed a little confused at first. (He spoke beautiful Urdu too). Then when he couldnt contain his surprise, he came right out with it, "Oh, youre an Indian!"
Yes, I said, then asked, but how did you learn to speak such beautiful Urdu?
From the Hindi movies which I love, Hasan answered ! I thought, not for the first time, that Bollywood had done more to promote India abroad than the Ministry of External Affairs (Shashi Tharoor, fellow blooger, and now minister in the Foreign Office, please note).
Then I asked him what he thought of India, and of Pakistan...Hasan chose his words carefully. He didnt want to offend me, of course (I was a guest in his hotel) and Pakistan was like a second home. Both countries want a foot inside Afghanistan, he said, smiling somewhat anxiously.
Hasan's dead right analysis has now been confirmed by Pakistan's military spokesman, Maj Gen Athar Abbas, who in an interview with CNN on July 11, talked about Pakistan's concerns about India's growing presence in Afghanistan.
"What we see as a concern is an over-involvement of Indians in Afghanistan…particularly if one is watching the security calculus in that….If you see an over-ingress of the Indians into these areas, like their government, their ministries, their army. The fea
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Rakesh Sharma
From outer space to cyber space, India's first astronaut lands on the web to blog about Indian Defence issues
Latest Post-
PIPE DREAMS
August 06, 2009, 4:2 AMI am greatly amused by the way we have managed to convince ourselves that we are well on the way to becoming a global superpower. Of course one has been hearing this refrain from various foreign media sources and visiting Heads of State - the latest addition to the list being Hillary Clinton, as she swings through our country.
What does it take to become a super power: billions of dollars in reserve, double digit GDP growth? A strong Navy, an impressive missile defense system, backed up by a credible second strike capability? A military- industrial combine that has the potential to cater to our ever growing defense needs and also adequate spare capacity to capture the arms export market? Or, perhaps, a workable health and social security system that will scale up in the years to come, despite a doubling of population?
It takes a lot to keep from being discouraged because it takes all of the above and some more to become a world power. Thing is, world powers are recognized as such only if their 'state of being' is of a certain standard and, it is here that we falter. Take a look at how our Nation goes about its own business before we take a call on whether we have the right stuff to lead the world - after all that is what is expected of any reigning super power. The list is just suggestive of the malaise - a pointer - and by no means, is it exhaustive.
An embarrassingl
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C Uday Bhaskar
The strategic analyst talks about India's security issues, and what the country can do to protect its borders and coast line
Latest Post-
Media Turbulence Over Chinese Incursions
September 22, 2009, 5:58 AMThere has been considerable turbulence in some sections of the Indian media during the last fortnight over purported incursions by China into Indian territory.
One major daily had reported that shots were actually fired by Chinese troops against Indian paramilitary forces.
The 1962 war with China was emotively recalled and the nature of the Sino-Indian bi-lateral relationship differently interpreted by the dragon-slayers and panda-huggers respectively in the Indian media.
And as has been happening over the last few years, the Indian audio-visual medium no longer just reflects public opinion. It actively forms it - more so on security and strategic issues that
affect national security - and hence the amber lights have been blinking apropos China as the aggressive dragon.
The tenor of the Indian media debate became so intense that the governments in both Delhi and Beijing were forced to take note and issue clarifications and denials.
Notwithstanding the page one hype, it turned out that no shots were fired by Chinese troops and the Indian Foreign Ministry issued an unambiguous denial and clarified that no such event had occurred at
all.
Subsequently, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted that there was no major change in the border situation and to assuage domestic concerns, he added: "There is nothing to be alarmed about."
This assuaging of Indian anxiety about Chinese incursions and intent has since been reiterated by the National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and the Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao who have clarified that there has been no 'significant' increase of incursions by China across all the sectors that are disputed.
Notwithstanding the trauma of 1962 that remains embedded in the collective Indian psyche, the Sino-Indian relationship in 2009 is stable,
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Latest Post
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Mayawati, post the 2009 elections, what next? Ask your questions to Ajoy Bose, her biographer
June 02, 2009, 7:45 AMAsk Ajoy Bose your questions on Mayawati post the 2009 elections. Please send Ajoy your questions by writing them as comments in the comments field below this post. Due to time constraints, he will answer ten of them to the best of his ability.
Chosen questions will be published on Ajoy Bose's blog on Indipepal, along with his answers.
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Mission:To help expand and improve the services of dedicated grassroot organizations which function as the primary source of healthcare and education for much of India’s underprivileged population.
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About:AVSAR is a non-profit organization dedicated to help expand and improve the services of grassroot organisaions which function as the primary source of healthcare and education for much of India’s underprivileged population. Through these efforts, AVSAR hopes to increase access to quality healthcare and education services, as well as inspire a greater sense of volunteerism within India’s own communities and beyond.
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Name:
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Location:Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
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Mission:A strong \"giving\" culture where Indians donate 2% of their income every year to give the poor a chance. A vibrant \"philanthropy marketplace\" to ensure that the most efficient and effective nonprofits get access to the most resources.
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About:GiveIndia is a NGO that raises funds for the poorest of the poor in India by helping you donate money to 150+ trustworthy charities.
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Name:
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Location:Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
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Mission:Salaam Balaak Trust provides a holistic safety net of services to street children within an environment that is conducive to optimum development and to integrate them into mainstream society.
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About:SBT has served the street children of Mumbai for twenty years. Four centres have been established in Mumbai covering a large area around Central and South Mumbai and Kalyan. Our centres offer a variety of options including Balwadis for small children, day centers for school going children, a non-formal education curriculum for non-school going children, computer and vocational training and separate night shelters for boys and girls. All our children are given a hot lunch daily (Balwadi children receive an extra snack and night shelter children are provided breakfast and dinner as well), participate in life skills training and have the opportunity to participate in sports and creative activities, day trips, picnics and many other activities throughout the year.
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Location:Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
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Mission:CRY enables people to take responsibility for the situation of the deprived Indian child, and also motivates them to confront the situation through collective action.
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About:CRY's role is that of a catalyst between two groups of people. The first group comprises of development organisations and individuals working at grassroots-level with marginalised children, their families and communities; and the second group is people from all walks of life that come together to fight for the rights of children.
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Location:Thane, Maharashtra, India
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Mission:The main focus of Aasra has always been to integrate the marginal street child into mainstream society. This is done through enhancing the children's capacity to solve their own problem. Models of intervention have been developed to suit each child's need at various levels.
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Location:Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
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Mission:Akanksha impacts the lives of less privileged children, enabling them to realise their potential and change their lives.
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About:Akanksha works primarily in the field of education, addressing non-formal methods of teaching along with formal schooling and institutional reform. A commitment is made to support each child by giving him or her a strong educational foundation, along with helping him/her build self esteem and values, and also plan future goals.
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Defence: India's Weapons
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