There is turmoil in the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia has made a hardline prince the effective ruler. Qatar, isolated by neighbouring Arab States, is defiant. Turkey has become a virtual dictatorship, changing the country’s profile and claiming a larger regional role for itself. The war zone in Syria sees Russia and the US challenging each…
By T.J.S. George Those of us who spend the midnight hour sleeping missed the celebratory introduction of GST. After all, it was not the same as the hour “when the world sleeps, India awakes to life and freedom… when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.” Every soul,…
By T.J.S. George In political and strategic terms, the BJP leadership staged the equivalent of a coup d’etat when it nominated Ram Nath Kovind for President. The choice killed three birds with one stone. Bird No.1: The Opposition parties’ unity against the ruling dispensation. Not only did Bihar’s Nitish Kumar break rank to support the…
Even in its glory days, the National Herald never had a South Indian presence. It was always a Delhi-Lucknow entity and knew it. It would have been another inconsequential provincial rag but for its ownership (Jawaharlal Nehru) and its editorship (Chalapathi Rau). Actually, the latter more than the former. While Nehru was an absentee overlord,…
BJP must honour its pledge to keep GM food out Before the power of commercial lobbies, even the BJP government bows. The party’s manifesto took a strong stand against Genetically Modified (GM) foods; ignoring it, the Government’s Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) green-lighted genetically engineered mustard in India. GM mustard is known to be more…
By T.J.S. George It’s clear: The cow dominates India. The world is changing in radical ways and life-and-death issues confront our country — GST’s impact on everyday life, the ‘dirty war’ in Kashmir, rising attacks on women, crisis in the IT industry, tensions with China. But none of them gets the national attention the cow…
By T.J.S. George Abu Zubaydah, a ‘high-value’ associate of fellow Saudi Arabian Osama bin Laden, was captured by America’s CIA from a safe house in Pakistan in 2002. (Pakistan’s ISI got $10 million for services rendered). Badly wounded, Zubaydah was put on painkillers. CIA strategists manipulated the medication until the man was hallucinated into believing that…
By TJS George Was it necessary to kick up the Hindi controversy all over again? A better model was available to the authorities. Within a fortnight of the Modi Government taking office, a circular had gone round Central Government offices asking for Hindi to be used in social media. Protests rose from non-Hindi States and…
By T.J.S. George Are we witnessing the final fade-out of communism’s run in India? West Bengal was a Left citadel that seemed impregnable for three long decades. Rather suddenly it crumbled and repeated attempts to put it together again have failed. Kerala then became the Marxists’ only viable address. The electoral victory they gained in…
China’s attitude to India has changed, too. It seems to have concluded that India is no longer the serious competitor it once appeared to be. A week from today “the biggest diplomatic event of the year” will take place in China with many heads of government in attendance (not India’s). This is the first summit…
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