THROUGHOUT cultures, families are the primary agency for the survival of the human race. Though its forms vary, tasks performed by families are universal; transmitting parents’ core competencies required by social, economic and political forces of the civil society (social groups) to their offspri...
The Right Person for the Right Jobs
M. Damodaran, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, on the positive and negative of the Indian business climate A worthy mention must also be made of his memory. It is, well, worthy of a financial guru that he is. The Chief Representative (India) for the ING Group of Nether...
Nitish’s JD(U) Not to Join Hands with Modi’s BJP
Bihar CM breaks its 17 year tie with the BJP POLITICS\\ Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) ended its 17-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on June 16, 2013, after days of speculation, marking a major split in the country’s main opposition grouping. Chief Minister Nitis...
Toll reaches 150, Rudraprayag worst hit FLOODS\\ Tragedy struck Uttarakhand region of the Himalayas, when a cloud burst caused massive rains in the region, leading to floods that washed away roads, guest houses, buses and people, leaving large number of pilgrims and travellers stranded. It is being...
Sir Jadeja See India to Victory
SPORTS// On a frustrating Sunday evening, as the rain gods wrecked havoc, fans waited patiently in the wet Birmingham stadium. The 50-over one day-match had to be changed to a 20-over match, the blame for which squarely fell on the shoulders of the ICC who failed to keep a reserve day for the final ...
Players Caught in Spot-fixing Scam MATCH FIXING// On May 16, 2013, Delhi Police arrested three Rajasthan Royal bowlers— Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan—for allegedly fulfilling promises made to alleged bookies of bowling a bad over each, for a return sum ranging from $36,000 to $109,...
Turkey’s Standing Man Protests
PROTEST// On May 28, 2013, 50 environmentalists protesting against the demolition of Istanbul’s Taksim Gezi Park were attacked with tear gas and water cannons. The attack sparked outrage among masses and triggered protests across regions. People raised their voices against issues concerning freedo...
Manmohan Singh takes oath as RS Member
Re-elected from Assam POLITICS// Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took oath as member of Rajya Sabha after being re-elected from Assam on June 17, 2013. The eighty-year-old Singh, who is the Leader of the Upper House, was re-elected as the member of Rajya Sabha from Assam for the fifth consecutive ter...
We are far from being leaders in our own (Indian) fields”
WHILE IT is a matter of great concern that India does not boast of several world-class institutions, it is a matter of shame if leading scholars in Indian politics and history are not India-based or if the most prestigious research centres are in the West. It is time we asked some disconcerting ques...
To be a doctor and to blog is great, but you can never be more careful Imagine this. You wake up with a throat that feels worse than sandpaper. You follow the drill—you gargle a bit to soothe the matter, but it just won’t go away. Now, instead of picking up the phone and booking a checkup with ...
Decrypting the message from Howrah IN EARLY JUNE by-election results from Bihar and Gujarat took a large slice of news coverage. Relatively under-analysed was the Howrah Lok Sabha constituency by-election in West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress retained the seat by a reduced margin, beating the CPM ...
Gurcharan Das looks back at his life and choices I was born in undivided India, in what was known as Lyallpur (Faisalabad) named after the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab John Leyland. We were a middle class family and my father an engineer in the Indian government, involved in building the Bhakra Da...
Bet or not to bet, Is the question
In the past decades, controversy has proved to be cricket’s wicked twin. It wasn’t long ago when the former Indian captain, one of the finest batsmen of all times, Mohammed Azharuddin was accused of fixing matches. As the CBI investigated, they caught hold of a bookie, Mukesh Gupta a.k.a MK, who...
Bet or not to bet, Is the question
DR ARBIND PRASAD// Such sports frauds are unfortunate and this spot fixing scandal has created credibility deficit on the governance of sports as a whole in the nation. It has hurt the sentiments of sports fans. FICCI had started talking about regulation few years back but now with re-emergence of t...
Lessons from the IPL OVER THE PAST month commentators have been lamenting the commercialism of India’s cricketing scene, especially, the messy underbelly of a circus called Indian Premier League or the IPL. IPL’s tales of sleaze, match fixing, etc., are potboiler material, subplots in a larger ...
Vimlendu Jha’s team at Swechha is working to make education, & environment projects sustainable “I am a pessimist activist,” says Vimlendu Jha, the founder of Swechha, a Delhi based, youth-run, and youth-focused NGO that deals with environmental and social development issues. In the past ...
A moving book but not everyone’s cup of tea? WHILE LECTURING our tiny class of 16 students, sociologist and author Andre Beitelle had remarked, “There are two types of people in this world. Those who like a happy ending and those who prefer a less happy one. What you read determines who you are...
Mission, Character, Service, and Getting the Job Done “THE LEADER’S Code” is a unique book by a decorated US Marine Corps veteran Donovan Campbell. Campbell is a management and technology consultant and author of New York Times best selling “Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage,...
From the tea gardens, to beaches and British bungalows, Sri Lanka has a lot to offer If you think of Sri Lanka as a miniscule island that lies to the south of India, you may be right, but if you think that it is too small to offer much diversity, you had better plan a trip there sometime soon. Beca...
Need wholesome food served with a smile? Head for Imperfecto Me: “You are a little mad.” (Pause) Chef Nuria Rodrigeuz Parra: “Yes, you are right.” There aren’t many chefs who would nod their heads in mock dismay when you call them “a bit mad”. Secretly Chef Nuria Rodriguez Parra of Im...
