Let’s play it fair & square
The passion with which senior leaders like Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav opposed the idea of giving over 33 per cent of seats in Parliament to women would have been justified if they had led the way in increasing women’s participation in a more democratic manner. But the arguments that we [...]
Don’t fail the women of India
The United Progressive Alliance government's announcement of its intention to push forward the Women's Reservation Bill without any dilution in the coming week is the best political news we have had for a long time. If all goes according to plan, the long-pending Bill will be adopted by both houses of Parliament on or around March 8, which marks [...]
With strong reservations
Former Prime Minster Atal Behari Vajpayee once described reservations as a “crutch”, temporary at best, that should not be mistaken for a foot. The government on Thursday cleared the decks for the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, giving its approval to earmark 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The [...]
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
A classic film set during World War II - A Bridge Too Far - is about a doomed attempt by Allied forces to secure a bridge in Holland that would allow access across the Rhine into Germany. Now a bridge in Uttar Pradesh has proved to be a bit too far for Sonia Gandhi and the UPA government. The bridge in question is one in Rae Bareli constituency - [...]
Lead the way
The new Lok Sabha, barely a year into its term, has already been marred by the worst kind of partisanship and lack of imaginative engagement. The opposition banded together to disrupt proceedings in both Houses of Parliament, forcing two adjournments by afternoon. They demanded a rollback of the recently announced hike in petrol and diesel rates. [...]
Sanjaya Baru: Finmin: Return of the Gladstonians
The global financial crisis has empowered fiscal conservatives in India. Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a finance ministry that liked to keep its Budgets balanced. Balanced Budgets and low inflation were virtues that prudent civil servants held high. They were the children of, what economists Vijay Joshi and IMD Little famously [...]
Jyoti Malhotra: Looking east via the North-East
During her meeting with a handful of Indian journalists just as she was wrapping up her visit to New Delhi last month, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was asked how the pro-Jamiat-i-Islami newspapers back home had reacted to her handing over of Ulfa terrorist Arabinda Rajkhowa to India. “Aaami kichhu jaani na (I have no idea what [...]
Vidya Subrahmaniam: From roaring lion to timid mouse
Indian Parliament is too tolerant of indiscipline and too intolerant of genuine dissent. It is a brave Congressperson who will stand up and speak for freedom of expression. When that rare person happens to be a Lok Sabha MP as well as the party's spokesperson, his action deserves taking notice. Manish Tewari recently moved a Private Member's [...]
Trying To Change
At the Bharatiya Janata Party's National Council meet at Indore, the new man in, Nitin Gadkari, scored high on style quotient. Summing up the mood were the lyrics from an old Bollywood song to which he swayed: life is a puzzle; it makes you cry and it makes you laugh. With two defeats in succession, the BJP has lately had more occasions to cry [...]
Towards a working NDA
The decision of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to appoint Mr Lal Krishna Advani as its “working” chairperson, in the place of an ailing Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, could not have come a day sooner. It is time the main opposition alliance revived itself, stopped moping and whining about last year’s defeat and started playing [...]