Nerve Op-Eds     India's budget places common man above fiscal responsibility Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has pleased the 'aam aadmi' - but made the 'khaas aadmi' - unhappy in his 2009-10 budget proposals. Constrained by the global recession and domestic economic strains, he has provided a much awaited further stimulus to the economy by raising plan expenditure by as much as 25 per cent in real terms. Much of these funds will go to the social sector schemes that have been so successful in propelling the Congress party back to power like those guaranteeing 100 days of work for each rural family and Bharat Nirman, the grand national reconstruction programme. But ... read more India's budget places common man above fiscal responsibility Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has pleased the 'aam aadmi' - but made the 'khaas aadmi' - unhappy in his 2009-10 budget proposals. Constrained by the global recession and domestic economic strains, he has provided a much awaited further stimulus to the economy by raising plan expenditure by as much as 25 per cent in real terms. Much of these funds will go to the social sector schemes that have been so successful in propelling the Congress party back to power like those guaranteeing 100 days of work for each rural family and Bharat Nirman, the grand national reconstruction programme. But ... read more India's budget places common man above fiscal responsibility Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has pleased the 'aam aadmi' - but made the 'khaas aadmi' - unhappy in his 2009-10 budget proposals. Constrained by the global recession and domestic economic strains, he has provided a much awaited further stimulus to the economy by raising plan expenditure by as much as 25 per cent in real terms. Much of these funds will go to the social sector schemes that have been so successful in propelling the Congress party back to power like those guaranteeing 100 days of work for each rural family and Bharat Nirman, the grand national reconstruction programme. But ... read more Indian badminton scaling new heights with Saina New Delhi, Dec 5 - Indian badminton has been in the news since Saina Nehwal became the first shuttler to figure in an Olympic Games quarterfinal. Saina followed it up with good performances in the international circuit and the 18-year-old from Hyderabad was suitably rewarded as she cracked the top-10 of the world ranking in women's singles this week. It is a huge achievement for someone who started her international career just two seasons back. She began with a bang, winning the Philippines Open in 2006, and has been since scaling one height after another. She very nearly won a medal at Bei ... read more Saffron brigade dividing Hindus, Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir The Amarnath land transfer row has come as a godsend to the Bharatiya Janata Party -, which was looking for an emotive issue after the Ayodhya temple movement fizzled out. The party now hopes to recapture the mood of the 'awakening' of Hindus, which was associated with Ayodhya, to consolidate its position in the run-up to the next round of assembly elections. However, there is a catch. The BJP's encouragement of the temple issue came to be associated with communal tension and riots in the early 1990s. That was why the party decided to shelve the matter in 1996 so as not to antagonise its 'se ... read more A nation not interested in sports piggybacks the victors Abhinav Bindra, the well-heeled shooter who became the first sportsperson from independent India to win an individual gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, remained sober - no doubt helped by a natural reserve. But the delirious orgy of official and officious cash award celebrations went on for long. Bronze medallist, wrestler Sushil Kumar, with his experience of grappling with mind-numbing adversity and obscurity, remained humble. But his achievement triggered another frenzied moment under the sun for politicians, Delhi chief minister downwards. When boxer, Vijender Kumar, having practised h ... read more Kashmir's independence cannot be an option After many years of relative peace, stability and economic progress, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir has been allowed to reach a dangerous point over the last two months. There have been mistakes, even serious ones, in the way the Amarnath land transfer issue has been handled. Despite these lapses, the answer to the problem cannot be to suggest that the Kashmir Valley be allowed to secede from India. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is as much a composite whole as the human body is. If there is an ailing part of the body, you diagnose the problem and take remedial mea ... read more Musharraf's exit: another blow to Bush foreign policy Had George Bush's presidency not already entered its lame duck months, the less than flattering departure of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf so close to the time when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took off his gloves would have dealt a staggering personal blow to the US president. That Bush's term is all but over is a mitigating factor for him in what is otherwise a huge foreign policy challenge for Washington. Notwithstanding his harsh denunciation of the Russian attack on Georgia as 'bullying and intimidation' and rather impassive response to Musharraf's resignation, Bush has t ... read more Post-Musharraf scenario: growing instability in Pakistan Pakistan is again in the news due to the decision of the ruling coalition to impeach President Pervez Musharraf. India's National Security Adviser - M.K. Narayanan said that the impeachment may give rise to a big vacuum that will provide freedom to radical extremist elements. In his words, 'It leaves a big vacuum and we are deeply concerned about this vacuum because it leaves the radical extremist outfits with freedom to do what they like, not merely on the Pakistani-Afghan border but clearly on our side of the border too.' The concern of the NSA is genuine and alludes to the post- impeachme ... read more Will 'Singh is Kinng' bring home NRIs? Will some NRIs head back to India after watching the latest box office hit, 'Singh is Kinng?' After watching the conscience pricking scenes during which the hero Akshay Kumar urges his friend to return from Australia to care for his old and ailing parents back home in Punjab, many NRIs will have to answer their consciences as to why they should not return. Yet, this is a happy film as Happy Singh is the hero's nickname. The opening sequences in the Punjabi village are hilarious and every punch line in the dialogue evokes laughter, if not giggles. For Punjabis, the punch lines push the envelo ... read more Micro-financing: A tool for grassroot development As a majority of the Indian population lives in its 650,000-odd villages, there has been a consistent attempt by successive governments since Independence to develop rural India. Despite these attempts, the sad truth is that due to ineffectiveness in government or public delivery systems the policy benefits hardly trickled down to the targeted beneficiaries. As the nation works towards building a physical infrastructure, there is an urgent need to review the manner in which we are building our infrastructure in the rural areas, which hold around 715 million people. The importance of special ... read more Will anyone ask for Bob Houghton's head now? Baichung Bhutia's men had done well enough in Hyderabad till the mud and slush at the Gachibowli Stadium became so unplayable as to force the organisers to shift the final to Delhi. They did even better on a drier, greener turf in the capital by winning the AFC Challenge Cup and qualify for the Asia Cup after 24 years. All roads seemed to lead to the pretty little Ambedkar Stadium for the capital's football fans, for they had taken an Indian victory for granted. So much so that one young spectator came armed with a banner demanding an Independence Day gift from the team. Abhinav Bindra's sho ... read more Plus points trump the minuses on Independence Day It is not beyond the realms of possibility that this year's Independence Day will prove to be, in retrospect, more memorable than any in the recent past. The claim may seem exaggerated in the context of the bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad last month and the fear of home-grown Muslim terrorists. But terrorism, by common consent, does not pose a major long-term threat to India's integrity, however menacing it may seem at present because of the suicide bombers and the indiscriminate killing of innocent people. Similarly, Naxalite insurgency may seem a serious threat because of the presen ... read more Olympics may make China more obdurate over Tibet The Dalai Lama's reported acceptance of Communist Party rule in Tibet as a gesture of sincerity to bring the resolution of the Tibetan issue within grasp is bit of a non sequitur. In an op-ed piece headlined 'An olive branch from the Dalai Lama', Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times quoted the Dalai Lama as having accepted Communist rule as a major concession to elevate the dialogue to a far more efficacious level than it has been in the past six years. Then he quoted the Tibetan leader as making an assertion that is the real crux of the dispute now. 'The main thing is to preserve our c ... read more Nuclear deal and India's place in a multipolar world US President George W. Bush reportedly intends to write individually to heads of governments of 44 other member nations of the Nuclear Suppliers Group -, urging that India be given a clean waiver from the present NSG guidelines which do not permit nuclear commerce with any non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - which has not placed all its nuclear facilities under the full scope safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency -. The US administration has also prepared a draft waiver resolution acceptable to India and has forwarded it to Germany, the current chair of the ... read more Amarnath row: a test for Kashmir's syncretic culture Governments in India seem to believe in acting in haste, or without much forethought, and then pay the price later. The upsurge in Jammu and Kashmir could have been avoided if the fateful step of expanding the operations of the Amarnath shrine board and then rescinding the order had been preceded by the kind of wider consultations now being held by the centre. Such care was all the more necessary in a state as sensitive and volatile as Jammu and Kashmir. It isn't only that Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence - agency has long been engaged in fomenting terrorism there and elsewhe ... read more For peace in Nagaland, dialogue among Nagas must succeed For months, the fragile peace in the Naga Hills has been shattered by internecine conflict. This is ironical because the ceasefires between the government of India and its armed forces, including the paramilitary, and the two factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim - -- the group led by Isak Chisi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah and that headed by S.S. Khaplang -- remain in place. These represent in fact among the oldest ceasefires anywhere in South Asia between armed groups, purportedly fighting for 'sovereignty', and a national government. Yet, these peace pacts with the governme ... read more Musharraf impeachment: Pakistan on the brink - again? Pakistan's long troubled politico-military calculus is again disturbingly animated - this time with the impending impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, the former army chief, slated for Aug 11. Many ironies are linked with that date, including that it is the doughty general's 65th birthday and that this matter will be taken up by the recently elected Pakistani legislature a month before the seventh anniversary of 9/11. 9-11, as the tragic enormity of New York's Twin Towers has come to be known in the popular lexicon, brought terrorism, Pakistan and General Musharraf into sharp focus. At ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more Father of modern Olympic spirit largely forgotten The Beijing Olympics are almost here, but not many remember Pierre de Coubertin, the French baron who restored the Olympic Games in 1896. The spirit with which the ancient Games were revived and Coubertin's objectives seem to belong to a bygone era, though remembering the first steps of Olympism is inspiring. Coubertin was a man of exceptional talent; he was not only an organiser, a pedagogue, a historian, a sportsman, a writer, an aesthete, but also a visionary, a great humanist and a man of action. Olympism was for him nothing else than the 'religion of mankind'. Born in a French aristocra ... read more

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