Archive for March, 2010
Topic of cancer
Why a scorpion? The “pictorial warning” of the dangers of cancer that’s currently on chewing tobacco, or gutka, pouches isn’t even a crab, which at least has the advantage of being associated with cancer by the more zodiac-minded among us. (Who, one presumes, must be warned pictorially that scorpio, not cancer, kills.) And the black insect [...]
Without Afridi?
Even by Pakistan cricket’s stratospheric standards of unpredictability, there was something reckless in the disciplinary action announced on Wednesday. After the disastrous tour of Australia, something had to give. It did, and how. In essence, the Pakistan Cricket Board has deprived itself of its most talented players. While players could yet [...]
Mind the geography
As it affirms the commitment to stay the course in Afghanistan following the attack on unarmed Indian citizens in Kabul at the end of February, Delhi must adapt to the rapidly evolving circumstances in the north-western subcontinent. Neither bravado on standing up to terror nor the pique towards Pakistan, which is trying to hustle India out of [...]
Bangkok siege
A familiar feeling of siege is once again gripping Bangkok. The so-called Red Shirts have planned to gather in the Thai capital for anti-government protests. Collected under the banner of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, they are supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, now in exile after being removed in a [...]
LeT now a threat beyond India: U.S. Congress
In an unmistakable sign of rising concern in the United States over the expansive reach of the militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Congressional hearing on Thursday emphasised the urgent need to “crush” the group. The hearing, titled “Bad Company: Lashkar e-Tayyiba and the Growing Ambition of Islamist Militancy in Pakistan”, [...]
India-UAE: an enduring relationship
If a photograph could capture the rapport between two leaders, the one appearing on the front pages of many newspapers on Friday morning certainly succeeded. It showed His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates in animated conversation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of [...]
Brahma Chellaney: A radioactive Bill fraught with big risks
The government has finally released the text of its controversial nuclear-accident liability Bill. The text not only confirms the concerns expressed earlier over key elements of the proposed law but also raises additional issues of worry. What stands out in the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill is the extent to which it goes to aid the [...]
Protectionism in check
Although the global economic recovery after the recession has been fragile and uneven, trade among countries has bounced back after a sharp decline a year ago. Between October, 2008 and January, 2009, global goods trade dropped by nearly 20 per cent. Several factors that were behind last year's plunge assume significance in the context of the [...]
The long road to justice
The Special Investigation Team tasked by the Supreme Court of India to enquire into the communal violence that shook Gujarat eight years ago has summoned Chief Minister Narendra Modi to appear before it for questioning on March 21. The summons is pursuant to a petition filed in the court by Zakia Jaffrey, widow of the former Congress Member of [...]
Children of the tech revolution
It is ironical that the dot-com bubble burst on 10 March 2000 and almost exactly 10 years later Forbes magazine has reported that Bill Gates relinquished his position at the top of the global wealth pile. A lot will be made about Gates’ displacement by Mexican telecom owner Carlos Slim, but the very fact that the man behind the success of [...]