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
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August 25, 2009, 9:4 AM
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Professor Jagdish Bhagwati's first take on the new Indian Government
June 05, 2009, 3:36 AMI was asked to respond to questions about the Prime Minister and India's policies after the elections, by a well-known foreign journalist writing a story on this subject. Below are the complete questions and my answers which the journalist will quote from.
Q1.What, in your understanding, is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's understanding of so-called "inclusive growth?"
Ans: He has always understood that the economic reforms which he started implementing wholeheartedly when he was Finance Minister would be the most important single change that would accelerate growth and finally reduce poverty, as indeed they have. This is "inclusive growth" indeed. This growth has directly pulled people out of poverty; it has also generated revenues without which little can be spent on bringing benefits such as health and education to the poor and the marginalized. The Prime Minister has always been explicit on these matters, criticising the critics of the reforms that fail to understanfd that, without growth and the accompanying growth of revenues, the "inclusive growth" that we planned for since the 1950s cannot be delivered.
Q2. Throughout his first term, Manmohan Singh was often criticized as weak, accused of being a puppet of Sonia Gandhi, and denigrated for caving in to the demands of the Left. Another Newsweek writer even blas
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Suhel Seth
Newspaper columnist, TV commentator and entrepreneur blogs about issues that affect India
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WHEN THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT..
April 10, 2009, 3:39 PMMuch has been said and written about the shoe that was thrown by a Sikh journalist at P Chidambaram, India's Home Minister when he refused to address the concerns raised about the Congress Party nominating Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Delhi: where in 1984, these two gents were alleged to have masterminded a state-supported pogrom which saw the death of over 10,000 Sikhs only because the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi had been assassinated by a Sikh bodyguard. In this melee, history has been conveniently forgotten because in addition to what these two gents have supposedly been accused of, was also a statement by the slain Prime Minister's son, Rajiv Gandhi, that when a large tree falls, the ground shakes.
One cannot accuse Rajiv Gandhi of being communal but then given the servility of India's political classes I would not be surprised, if that statement too would have been seen as a gentle nod of support for the mayhem that followed. India experienced the kind of rioting that would make Godhra in Gujarat look like kindergarten. The only difference was those riots were not televised. The ones in Gujarat were.
I have often argued both in print and television, that the Congress party has perhaps as much blood on its hand as the BJP: and both have used caste and creed to forment trouble in unimaginable ways. The fact that the so-called secular Congress has the gumption to field the Tytlers and Kumars of this world is an expression of denial on the one hand
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Anand Giridharadas
An Indian-American writer and columnist for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times blogs about India and the world.
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Will India Lose Its Charm as It Becomes 'World Class'?
May 22, 2009, 7:3 AMWASHINGTON - "But you haven't eaten anything! Come, come, you must have something. At least take some bread. Please."
They barely serve peanuts aboard American airlines these days. But just a few years ago, in India, it was not uncommon to encounter flight attendants who took it personally when you did not eat.
Their behavior was not that of a pre-programmed employee following a script. It was the universal response of an Indian to an Indian, a horror at the thought that someone in your charge might go hungry.
Then the Indian airline industry became what business-book writers label "world class": it got with the global program, signing on the dotted lines of the contract with modernity.
Delays waned. Aerobridges were erected. New airlines were born.
Thinner, younger flight attendants were employed. Miniskirts replaced saris. To fly the Indian skies today is to have a perfectly modern experience.
But it is not to have a very Indian experience, because they don't care if you eat anymore.
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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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Petitions and Appeals
June 12, 2009, 12:22 PMPost-cyclone Aila, the Sundarbans in West Bengal is facing yet another problem. Hundreds of NGOs and private donors, who are providing relief, dump plastic covers, cups and wrappers in the water, thus flooding the river with them. Though Sundarbans was declared a plastic-free zone, a tonne of toxic waste is still floating in its waters. The Hindu has the story.
After exposing the medical college scam in Chennai, The Times of India reports that the Federation of Anti-Corruption Teams (FACT) India (a coalition of NGOs) has demanded a detailed report on the admission procedures in private medical and engineering colleges in the state. The federation has also asked S Jagathrakshakan, minister of state, Information and Broadcasting, to step down from his seat till the investigation is completed.
And in Panaji, at the inauguration of Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN), a child rights NGO and former chief justice of India PN Bhagwati said that
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