It is a great tragedy that a very senior and upright leader like you at this venerable age of 82 must find yourself in such a great dilemma. Whether to retire or not? From active politics? Yes, this is a great tragedy simply because you are in a dilemma. Age gives wisdom. That is the…
The decade we live through… This decade?
Do you know what this nameless decade? The Obama decade? The world is in crisis or in confidence? To understand the world we live in needs enormous knowledge and wisdom. The world is always in a sort of oddity. The world is not easy to live or easy to understand. The place is full of…
Independence Day Thoughts
Independence Day celebrations this year were marked by some unexpected developments in the country. There is this swine flu scare that kept away large sections of people from the usual crowds we witness on this historic day. Many schools in the cities, including in Delhi and elsewhere, in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore ‘cancelled’ the celebrations…
Yashpal panel education reform is radical and very urgently needed step
Dr.Kaushik Basu’s dissenting note is a very practical and needs implementation But then education is becoming more and more commercial and profit-driven! Education corruption, as a pardigm, follows political corruption! In education, academicians might talk; talk rather wishfully or wistfully even! But it is politicians who have the last laugh, so to say! Why? In…
Ted Hughes, one more British poet – A poet laureate, much rated poet
Letters of Ted Hughes edited by Christopher Read Faber and Faber, London, 2007, pp 755 A poet couple, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath made twentieth century English poetry known for its unique impact on the imagination of a generation and also much beyond the British shores and the Atlantic Ocean, as it were! Yes, Ted…
Big issues call for big thinking and big imagination
How are our foreign policy initiatives? The Home Minister has visited the USA. He sought US help for tracking the Pakistani terrorists, particularly, Hafiz Sayed, the chief of JuD, earlier known as LeT, who masterminded the Mumbai attacks. Can the US help India? In the Indo-Pakistani affairs? No one seemed to have asked. Kuldip Nayar,…
Prime Minister on the drought and his response inadequate!
Finance Minister’s response too seems not pro-active either! FM’s approach to rural regional bank branch expansion must be more comprehensive and more target-focused! There is a severe drought hitting the agricultural sector in a serious manner. The heart-rending stories are difficult to read. There are farmers’ suicides from many states, notably in AP, it is…
Critical infrastructure needs critical policy innovations!
Yes, this is the time of difficult governance and decision-making Considering the world recession, internal challenges, swine flu scare and widespread rought, there is an emerging crisis on a large-scale. There is no use and it doesn’t serve anyone’s purpose to ignore the ground level realities. Critical infrastructure, power, mining, steel, roads, civil aviation, to…