Editorial

Honesty and Transparency

BY THE TIME this edition of Democratic World hits the stands or lands on your thresholds, notifications for the 2013 Assembly Polls will have probably been issued across Delhi and Mizoram. As of November 16th, candidates will have filed nominations, while “scrutiny” would be over by November 18t...

Cover Story

STEEL beneath the Velvet

The once poster-boy of anti-corruption, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Vinod Rai talks to DW on matters close to his heart Once there was an academic young man from a landed, gentried family of Ghazipur studying philosophy at Allahabad University. During his DPhil, the Second Worl...

UPDATE

Cyclone Phailin Hits Coastal Orissa

Devastation Limited SUPER-CYCLONE \\ The fiercest storm to hit India this century barrelled across the Bay of Bengal in this month. Cyclone Phailin slammed into Odisha and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh with winds gusting at more than 200kmph (125mph). Cyclone Pahilin hit the very same region which wa...

Singer Manna Dey Passes Away

Singer Manna Dey Passes Away DEMISE \\ Credited with pioneering a new genre by infusing Indian classical music in a pop framework, music legend, singer and composer Manna Dey epitomised the golden period of Hindi cinema with his inimitable style and memorable songs like Puchho na kaise, Aye meri zo...

Elinor Cattel Wins 2013 Man Booker Prize

The Youngest Author to Win the Prize AWARD// New Zealand author Eleanor Catton won the 2013 Man Booker prize for English fiction on Tuesday for her novel The Luminaries, to become the youngest winner in the award’s 45-year history. The 28-year-old novelist poked fun at the size of her 848-page to...

Lalu Prasad Sentenced For Five Years

The Fodder Scam Case Comes to a Verdict after 17 Years SCAM// A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on October 16, 2013, sentenced RJD chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad to five years rigorous imprisonment in a 17-year-old fodder scam case, thus disqualifying him as M...

Foriegn Despatches

Indian higher education sector is not stable yet”

MY ARRIVAL in India and settling down is a long story, tied to one factor—my affiliation with the Delhi School of Business (DSB). DSB, as is known, is a B-school launched by Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies—also known as VIPS—an 12-year-old institution. I did have some ‘concerns...

Social Agenda

Social Media to Shed that Flab

Here are the tools which help you to stay fit and fine Anyone who has exercised with a degree of commitment knows the role social motivation plays in keeping one committed. Without it, working out just becomes like working. Continuing on the work metaphor, imagine if you went to work every single d...

Platform1

Poison Pill Defence

The new governance will face a tough task ahead SPEAKING PRIVATELY A few weeks ago, an erudite MP—from a non-Congress, non-BJP background—described the UPA government’s binge of populist legislation as a “poison pill” approach. In management jargon, the “poison pill defence” is deploy...

Looking Back

THE SMARTEST OF THEM ALL

Shifu, the Made in India smartphone sidekick is set to outsmart the best of the breed apps “Shifu is your smart friend who lives in your smartphone. It observes when and how you use your phone. It knows what important things need your attention and when is the right time to show them to you…Shi...

Platform2

Aspiration, then and now

The need to divide want and privilege is an important theme in Bollywood THE OTHER DAY, I was watching the 1954 Bimal Roy film Naukri with a young Kishore Kumar in a solemn role as the job-seeking naujavaan Ratan, who travels from his village to Calcutta, but encounters disappointment at every turn...

Good Karma

WASTE TO WEALTH

Sustainable Technologies and Environmental Projects or STEPS is taking measured but certain steps towards ensuring our planet stays green Between stunning Hawaii and beautiful Japan, there is an area of the Pacific Ocean where ocean currents meet. Called the North Pacific Gyre, it is twice the size...

Reading Room

We Need New Names

An arresting debut by an young author; a one-time treat THIS YEAR, I attended an event where Rwanda’s ambassador to India said, “How can there be an African-Western dialogue when all people come to Africa to look at the elephant.” The garnered a few chuckles, but it had a biting veracity to i...

The Lowlands

Crisp text let down by weak characterisation IF ONE had to mention a singular feature which distinguishes Jhumpa Lahiri's style, it had to be her precise, concise prose, an ability she seems to have triumphed in with The Lowlands. The book’s prose is often self-consciously clipped. However, it ma...

Hitchhikers Guide

Decoding the Nilgiris

The Blue Mountains are a fascinating place to discover intriguing India The ‘Fragrant One’ from the land of the Blue Mountains lingers on the tastebuds. The colour is a brisk orange and the taste a distinct honey-sweet, not sharp and tangy but sweet and mellow. Just the right kind of tea, yes, ...

Reel life

Studio for Arts

Atelier has created a space for art to engage masses I don’t sleep,” smiles Kuljeet Singh, Assistant Professor in the Department of English, University of Delhi. Though humorously said, managing as vast a repertoire of activities as he does certainly requires some superhuman qualities. Singh is...