tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-337812382011-11-14T04:05:05.980-08:00The idea of this blog is that I read the newspapers, see the news and wonder as to why there are so many things that seem so strange to me and yet I do nothing, just take things in my stride. I am rightist in my opinion, and writings will reflect that. For some of my posts, it can be considered as an India Political Blog.Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.comBlogger3821100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-39250552680592303682009-09-22T11:59:00.000-07:002009-09-22T12:10:35.328-07:00

This must have been the shortest austerity campaign in recent times; the Congress Government, in a measure to try to get some political points, decided to try and make a show of an austerity program. Hence, 2 ministers were evicted from their hotels (even though they were apparently paying for their stay out of their pocket) and told to stay in the State Guest houses, ministers were told to fly

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-59832231850642593022009-09-15T11:12:00.000-07:002009-09-15T12:05:37.397-07:00

First of all, it is difficult for an individual to really find out what the current state of the preparation for the Commonwealth Games is ? The current reality is that there is work needed to be done at various fronts - the Delhi Government has set in process a huge amount of infrastructure improvements to give the city a modern feel and look. This includes improvements to the transport

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-90020875032077637882009-09-12T03:07:00.000-07:002009-09-12T03:10:51.604-07:00

The nuclear ambitions of Iran well known, and the attempts by some of the significant world powers to stop these nuclear efforts (mostly in a futile effort) are also well known by now. Iran has most likely done the calculation that it will be able to pursue its nuclear quest through a measure of playing one country against another along with a dogged determination to go the full path. Further,

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-78850972193178096702009-09-11T22:54:00.000-07:002009-09-11T23:03:04.204-07:00

In the last few years, there have been a spate of reports on how global warming is continuing to march ahead, irrespective of the debate among countries and politicians about the steps needed to stop the emissions that contribute to global warming. Global warming is supposed to have a horrific impact on the ice levels of the polar regions and Greenland, with large scale reduction of the Artic and

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-36236189682973663352009-09-07T12:44:00.000-07:002009-09-07T12:59:50.446-07:00

The Congress Government, in its second 5 year term, wants to make a start with a bang. As a result, the Government had set an ambitious plan of kicking off many major initiatives in the first 100 days; part of which were some announcements by the education ministry. Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal shocked a large number of politicians and state officials when he advocated for the

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-35997461252606690042009-09-04T12:53:00.000-07:002009-09-04T13:25:55.896-07:00

A democratic country believes by certain principles; one of the most important ones is to recognize freedom of speech, and make that a corner-store of policy. There are certain real world considerations that come into this freedom of speech (one classic example is that of hate speech, where you would certainly like to control such freedom of expression), but such considerations should be only

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-77999975385886009562009-08-31T06:29:00.000-07:002009-08-31T09:57:27.272-07:00

Swine Flu (or more correct, H1N1 flu) is now spread all over the world, declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. It has been reported from countries all over the world, with people contracting the disease, and a majority of them recovering; for a small fraction of them, the disease worsens to the point that the afflicted person dies. One of the major factors that has helped prevent a

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-67737968252282223522009-08-29T10:09:00.000-07:002009-08-29T11:44:10.602-07:00

It is always said that justice delayed is justice denied, the very fact that the criminal justice system in India takes decades to wind through and deliver justice. In that time, people either give up on justice, die, or implemented their own form of justice; conversely, it becomes easier to thwart justice by either witnesses being bought or scared away, their testimony becoming hazy, or

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-45582007274942250352009-08-18T09:24:00.000-07:002009-08-18T09:30:53.308-07:00

In April, there was wide-spread international condemnation when a legislation catering to the Shia sect in Afghanistan was passed. This legislation tilted the gender balance very strongly towards men, something not uncommon in Islamic countries. However, since Afghanistan was a place where troops from many nations were fighting the Taliban, and many of these troops were losing their lives, there

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-24205389651954346352009-08-15T13:52:00.000-07:002009-08-15T14:33:50.047-07:00

Ever since June, there has been some amount of debate over whether the monsoon will be good this year. The met department was predicting a slight shortfall in the rains, and there was also news that another El Nino effect would be in place that would impact the amount of rains. As the months of June and July progressed, it became clear that the monsoon was late, and was not adequate. At the same

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-9419621550128712692009-08-09T00:00:00.000-07:002009-08-09T00:06:45.834-07:00

For Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud has been one of the people who have caused it the most grief. Baitullah was the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the leader of what has been called the Pakistani Taliban. He first became internationally famous when he was blamed for being behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and in an ironic revenge, he was killed by a missile fired by a US

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-12757204695141846882009-08-08T12:38:00.000-07:002009-08-08T12:41:38.341-07:00

Part of the worries about global warming is about the loss of glaciers, with increasing melting and lower mass covered by the glaciers. Recent reports have confirmed the data, that glaciers are indeed getting impacted. Since glaciers are one of the primary source of water for the world's rivers, which are in turn are the primary sources of fresh water, water for irrigation purposes, and also

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-48368493123472112502009-08-06T11:39:00.000-07:002009-08-06T12:14:27.031-07:00

Taslima Nasreen does not find it safe in India, nor does the Government really want her to be here in India. Every time she comes to India, the Government is stuck as to what to do with her. Given the feelings of repulsion and hatred she inspires in a section of the Muslim community and the vociferous protests that are held, the Congress Government is certainly not going to give the impression

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-67628950031423591422009-08-02T19:49:00.000-07:002009-08-03T07:15:35.207-07:00

In India, private airlines have a tough field. They have to pay high rates for their fuel (ATF costs in India are higher than most places in the world), the conversion to new airports run by private operators are loading user convenience charges that passengers do not like to pay, and it is a cut-throat business with high fixed charges and a variable market that has been severely affected by the

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-68831309980109583252009-07-30T12:46:00.000-07:002009-07-30T13:14:42.158-07:00

If you have ever stopped to look at the online credit usage you would have done (including reviewed the information you were asked to provide), it would seem extremely easy to use somebody's card and use it for buying stuff. What is it that you need to provide in terms of information when using your credit card online ? You go to a site, decide to buy something (maybe jewellery, maybe some

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-80697592259338718592009-07-30T12:10:00.000-07:002009-07-30T12:23:55.456-07:00

Ever since Sonia Gandhi did her act of sacrifice many years ago by not accepting the post of Prime Minister, the rarely done act of denial and refusal (also known as sacrifice by the adulating supporters) has become one of the ultimate weapons of defence when pushed to the wall. On another note, Omar Abdullah was the junior external affairs Minister during the NDA rule, and hence would have come

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-9889731047684561572009-07-27T10:40:00.000-07:002009-07-27T12:40:47.722-07:00

Be careful what you wish for ! Delhi and North India were bereft of rain during the first month of the rainy season. A bit about why Delhi is special. This is a city that is supposed to become a world class city, a city that will host the Commonwealth Games. It is the city that is the capital of a hot emerging economy, the city where people from over the world get their first glimpse of Delhi.On

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-8170376346857700152009-07-24T12:05:00.000-07:002009-07-24T12:17:42.788-07:00

How often is that the Government, and the party that runs the Government, speak in different voices ? And yet, that is what is happening recently. India has a long history of taking steps that seem like buckling down under pressure, or which don't seem to be fundamentally sound. One can name the letting go of Occupied Kashmir by Nehru, of letting the victories of 1965 and 1971 preventing the

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-69486448265935060342009-07-23T09:46:00.000-07:002009-07-23T12:39:16.028-07:00

In the fight with terrorism, there is a thin line between what is justified for national security and what is a violation of human rights. Sometimes, this gets muddled up. An example is when sometime back, the UP police were shown to be shooting down a dacoit when he was coming out with hands in the air. There was a lot of protests and condemnation over the way the police shot him in cold blood.

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-86337822310991327212009-07-18T13:27:00.000-07:002009-07-18T13:28:39.280-07:00

What does a deficit mean ? There are many terms such as fiscal deficit, monetary deficit, revenue deficit, but the differences between are them are relevant for people involved in the field of economics. For the normal person on the street, a deficit means that you are spending more than you earn. A normal person cannot do this without getting into serious money problems, but a Government can (

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-14413164420602843292009-07-16T01:46:00.000-07:002009-07-18T09:36:59.574-07:00

The military forces in India have almost a separate life with a separate code of honor and law; their life is much more controlled than the lives of ordinary civilians. As a result, they have a separate process for justice, with a separate legal system that governs them. This includes offences they commit that are normally treated as criminal offences for the normal citizens of the country such

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-49579006173743919782009-07-12T12:02:00.000-07:002009-07-12T12:37:53.712-07:00

When an accident happened in October 2008 in the Metro construction in East Delhi in which one of the sections of the under construction metro collapsed, killing 2 people, it seemed like a one-off thing. It was still a major shock for the Delhi Metro project, since the corporation believes that it is one of the safest and most reliable project executors in India. However, it was clear for the

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-4353084573055223202009-07-09T20:07:00.000-07:002009-07-09T21:44:50.015-07:00

Airlines frequently overbook, given that there is always a number of people who will cancel, and hence there is a mathematics related to the number of people who overbook. Sometimes airlines land up in a situation whereby they find that this mathematics goes awry, and they find that there are more passengers than seats available. In such cases, the airline has to placate irate passengers, and

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-3168861255055962472009-07-09T10:57:00.000-07:002009-07-09T11:36:41.594-07:00

Mukesh Ambani would never have thought that finding a massive gas would continue to cause him so much problems; maybe, to make huge amounts of money, you need to have massive problems at the same time. A few years back, Reliance had participated in the Oil exploration scheme of the Government, and got allotted some of the deep sea blocks of the Krishna-Godavari basin fields, and in some time,

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-2266813350566949702009-07-05T08:55:00.000-07:002009-07-05T10:03:17.096-07:00

How quickly the mighty can fall ! Lest that sound like gloating, it is not, it is something that some of the more clear-thinking of the Communist crowd in India must be thinking. Just a couple of years back, they were top of the Government of India. If they said 'nay' to a proposal by the Government, the Government would hem and haw and finally withdraw the proposal, and this was something that

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-3952991287688960632009-07-02T11:51:00.000-07:002009-07-02T12:13:55.522-07:00

The world over, different countries have different concepts revolving around homosexuality. There are states in the United States that have made marriage between homosexuals as having the same legal sanctity as that between a man and a woman, there are other states where this is a matter of huge debate and controversy (with the Catholic and Protestant churches being against it), countries in

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-2474795315591183832009-06-26T07:41:00.000-07:002009-06-26T10:02:35.753-07:00

It is common knowledge that Dalits in India were a oppressed lot (and still are), being treated as a political base by the Congress party. It was the emergence of Kanshi Ram, who resigned from his Government service and setup the Bahujan Samaj Party for giving the Dalits a voice. In our modern word, it is hard to believe that a politician would not have ulterior motives for doing what he did, and

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-36237406097924446952009-06-20T11:40:00.000-07:002009-06-20T12:22:55.839-07:00

There are several sections of India that are semi-controlled by the Red Army, by the Naxalites. When I mean semi-controlled, it essentially means that they are regions where Naxalites and Maoists can move around without much fear of being encountered by security forces, and where they can in turn strike at state presence such as Government officers and police stations. Lalgarh is one such region,

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-26053926945768974612009-06-14T12:30:00.000-07:002009-06-14T12:53:36.768-07:00

When the results for the 2009 Indian Lok Sabha (Parliament) elections were out, everybody was surprised by the scope of the Congress victory. The Left would have been shell-shocked by the scope of their reduction in seats and dramatic bad run in both West Bengal and Kerala, but it was the BJP that was most badly affected. The BJP, which once ruled India for 5 years, had just lost its second

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-23764328327577584902009-06-14T00:18:00.000-07:002009-06-14T05:46:07.589-07:00

When the Congress Government came back to power with an enhanced mandate and higher numbers (and consequently, a less dependence on allies to make up its numbers), the markets welcomed the step, with people talking about a re-start of the earlier stalled divestment process. In fact, with the amount of money that the Government has committed towards its ambitious social welfare programs, it needs

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-706531273558383512009-06-09T10:38:00.000-07:002009-06-10T11:39:36.953-07:00

We are typically more sympathetic to the concerns and feelings of differently abled people (or who used to be called as handicapped people), and one expects that Government departments, who act as enablers for providing support and services to the citizenry of this country, would also act the same way for differently abled citizens. However, it is no surprise that Government departments are as

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-70576547540417112422009-06-07T05:26:00.000-07:002009-06-07T05:48:37.839-07:00

I wonder how many times people would have noticed things like this. It was just yesterday that I went to 2 different stores - one of them had advertised for a Flat 50% discount (this was a store called Fab Creations in the Cross River Mall in East Delhi), and the other store was the Reebok store in the same mall. The Reebok store had a similar offer, with the different being that the offer was

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-22557371143352403352009-06-04T11:21:00.000-07:002009-06-04T11:26:30.554-07:00

Scientists know that fishing stocks the world over are at risk, both from changes due to global warming, and due to over-fishing (and there have been many reports and articles predicting dire forecasts for the health of the fishing stock in the world's oceans). However, in a more detailed and back-looking approach, researchers are studying historical records to see what fish stocks were like just

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-71196895400233719872009-06-04T05:30:00.000-07:002009-06-04T10:20:26.771-07:00

Image the situation; a private college in a state run by a political party; the college is owned by a member of the same political party who is now also a central minister of the Government of India. The same college demands money for admitting students (and not some small sum, but the sum of Rs. 20 lakhs). A media team plans a sting and shows the administrative officer of one of the colleges (

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-79854912537064334162009-05-28T11:23:00.000-07:002009-05-28T11:46:59.443-07:00

There is a universal phrase that 'justice delayed is justice denied'. But the fact remains that in India, the pace of the judicial system is extremely slow; typical cases can take more than a decade to move through the judicial system and this is just for the first judgment. With the appeal system allowing many cases to approach the Supreme Court, the multi-layered appeal courts can mean cases

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-30746633090468414452009-05-19T09:51:00.000-07:002009-05-21T10:51:03.773-07:00

Drinking and driving is a universal problem, with different countries having different ways of checking / controlling this habit. A sizable percentage of accidents are known to happen after drinking and driving, and countries have different levels of enforcement about this habit. So, for example, if you take the case of countries such as Singapore or the US, drinking and driving is not cool. You

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-12833591146568535122009-05-16T13:29:00.000-07:002009-05-16T13:30:03.216-07:00

Municipal authorities have always been accused of being slow to adapt to modern technology, but now it seems that they are catching up to modern technology and adoption of the same so that their consumers find it easier to file complaints and interact with the municipal authorities. Consider this case of the municipal corporation of Pimpri-Chinchwad that has launched a SMS complaint service on a

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-86911470500229307302009-05-16T11:18:00.000-07:002009-05-16T12:20:28.475-07:00

So, the bitterly contested election results of the Indian Lok Sabha (Parliamentary elections) are out, and it is the incumbent party, the Congress Party that is the decisive winner. During the course of the campaign and even during the month long multi-stage voting process, it seemed that there was a tight fight between the Congress and the BJP led camps. It was also projected that there would be

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-31376350764814435682009-05-15T22:56:00.000-07:002009-05-16T00:12:34.344-07:00

Normally, dealing with banks is a hot and cold affair. When you have dealings with ATM's and with over the counter in branches, things are fine normally fine. But when there is something that is out of the ordinary, that is when people have more complaints. This could be when there are some delays in credit card payments, or a person is on the edge when qualifying for a loan, or when there is

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-80089206637743199562009-05-15T22:26:00.000-07:002009-05-15T22:44:14.034-07:00

Medical negligence is something that is penalized the world over. When a patient goes in for a medical procedure, the person is entrusting their lives to the doctor (s) attending on them. It used to be said earlier that a Doctor is a very respected person, and that it would be unfair to penalize a doctor for some problem that occurs during a medical procedure; this is now countered by the

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-84138650396473764972009-05-15T21:16:00.000-07:002009-05-15T21:46:42.333-07:00

The RTI Act has had a major effect on the availability of information, it turned around the concept that information was something that would not be easily available and could be used by the bureaucracy as a way of wielding power. Under the RTI Act, any citizen could ask for information, and they would need to be provided this information (except for a exclusions dealing with security, commercial

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-11109607364744024082009-05-14T19:10:00.000-07:002009-05-14T19:12:25.170-07:00

Climate change, and the efforts needed to counter it, are among some of the hottest topics in the last 1-2 decades; it is also easy to see that the effort to discuss the needs for combating climate change is more than actual work being done to reduce emissions (climate change needs quick action and some aggressive goals of reducing emissions, and they are nowhere near happening). Nations get into

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-38419732667540539032009-05-12T12:13:00.000-07:002009-05-13T12:00:38.546-07:00

The case of Varun Gandhi and his detention by the Mayawati Government is reaching a critical point. As a lot of people may be aware, Varun Gandhi, in a speech made some time back, sought to inflame people by speaking against the Muslim community. It is difficult to justify what he is stated to have said, since his speech was supposed to have been very provocative (and I am sure that people will

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-45355605606478795592009-05-07T10:49:00.000-07:002009-05-07T11:24:15.221-07:00

National parties have always had problems with the concept of partners in different states, since the concept of having a partner who is strong in a state is that the national party has to play second fiddle in the specific state. The BJP faces this to some extent in Punjab (where the Akali Dal believes that it is the stronger party), in Bihar (where the JD(U) is the stronger party), in

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-79682083797444300022009-04-30T05:22:00.000-07:002009-04-30T05:27:06.956-07:00

This election (the Indian 2009 election) has seen a much more pronounced push for knowing more about candidates, what their past record, what their wealth levels are. The concept is that an informed decision makes citizens more aware, and if it forces voters to think about the choices they are making, then all the effort has been worth it.One problem that ordinary people feel is that it is

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-18853358294906644612009-04-27T02:35:00.000-07:002009-04-27T02:38:32.515-07:00

It has always puzzled a large number of people as to why the Taliban seem to be generating a lot of support in the Pakistani countryside. After all, a group that believes in a harsh interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence and acts to implement their beliefs should not be succeeding at this rate. Even in a society where women are not supposed to have equal rights, are not supposed to show their

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-837490993074457702009-04-22T05:31:00.000-07:002009-04-22T08:03:19.796-07:00

Protests have been seen as a sign of legitimate dissent, about raising the voice of ordinary people against some action; in many cases, a protest is about having a good outlet for the frustrations of people. However, it is also true that protests have been hijacked by people with vested interests, and in many cases by lumpen elements. So, for every scene of people walking peacefully with placards

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-70768269304519288882009-04-22T02:11:00.000-07:002009-04-22T04:18:18.654-07:00

In the last election, the NDA was the dominant party, and with the 'India Shining' campaign, it seemed that nothing could stop the BJP led front from coming to power. However, the people of India had different ideas, and did not give the BJP the required number of seats so that the BJP could come to power as a part of the NDA. It was the Congress that had a larger number of seats; it was at that

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-68488775381542887272009-04-17T12:02:00.001-07:002009-04-17T12:02:55.554-07:00

Over a period of history, the concept of rights of a woman in marriage have been evolving; from earlier times where many cultures considered the woman to be a property of the husband in the marriage, most societies now legally consider the rights of both men and women in a marriage to be the same (of course, in realistic terms, this may not be always true, with many cultures believing men to be

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-71919365399991476772009-04-15T11:26:00.000-07:002009-04-15T11:37:04.322-07:00

Mobile phone companies keep on fighting with each other about the number of new users that they have signed up; their stock prices are dependent on how many users they have and whether they are the number one mobile phone company. So, you will see a lot of news dedicated to which company is the top dog, which company is getting ahead in the game, and so on. For a sample, review this news article:

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-26543679546076599782009-04-06T08:09:00.000-07:002009-04-06T08:10:44.570-07:00

You must have seen this all the time. You go to a fuel pump, and they ask you whether you want the premium fuel (whether it is petrol or diesel); in some cases, they will tell you that the premium fuel is better for your engine, as well as for the mileage of your vehicle. The fuel will have the name of 'Premium', 'Turbo', or 'Speed', all designed to make sure that you feel that you are taking a

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-27875387024981602142009-04-04T08:29:00.000-07:002009-04-04T08:32:37.973-07:00

Amid all the gloom of the world economic downturn, the entire discussion about climate change seems to have retreated into the background. It has been suggested in some new reports that maybe with the drop in economic growth, the growth in emissions will come down; and anyhow, with companies and governments running into monetary problems, how will they be able to spend the kind of money required

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-82931553962053314822009-03-29T11:45:00.000-07:002009-03-30T05:39:38.912-07:00

Maybe the name should be changed to that of the NRI Premiere League now; given that more NRI's will now be watching the match live at the ground rather than Indians. Last year, the Indian Premier League (after initial criticism of the high costs involved), turned into a spectacular crowd fest, with huge audience participation. The T-20 cricket tournament was a huge TV success, to the extent that

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-87007492459219524312009-03-17T10:38:00.000-07:002009-03-17T10:52:19.032-07:00

For some time now, the Mumbai police has been waging an intense campaign against drunk driving, including the use of jail time (anywhere from 1 day to multiple days) as part of the measures against drunk driving. This had surprised many people since observing traffic laws (including road safety laws such as not drinking and driving) is a common problem that India faces, and not too many states

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-79222532127986230262009-03-14T23:53:00.000-07:002009-03-14T23:59:05.324-07:00

Pakistan is again in the middle of incredible political turmoil, something that the country thought it had escaped from after the previous election that brought Zardari and the Pakistan Peoples Party to power. Zardari has made a strong pitch for keeping his powers strong and unchallenged, by trying to crush the movement led by Sharif against the Government. The issues are politically inter-locked

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-38076349783351605152009-03-10T12:49:00.001-07:002009-03-10T12:52:00.219-07:00

The Mumbai terror attacks of 11/26 were a major shock for the world. Every nation fears the prospect of armed terrorists attacking civilians, and here were these 10 well armed terrorists who held the armed forces of a nation at bay for 3 days. How do you protect against terrorists who emerge from the night (from a vast coast), disperse swiftly into the night to their various pre-planned

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-41760434229899705212009-03-02T10:09:00.000-08:002009-03-02T10:10:21.458-08:00

The last week has seen a major upheaval in Bangladesh, that too just a couple of months after the long-awaited transition back to civilian rule. After years of army rule, finally elections were held, and Sheikh Hasina won comfortably over her rival Begum Khaleda Zia. However, it was expected that since the powerful army did not like either Sheikh Hasina or Begum Zia (holding them to be corrupt,

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-91555735073612487152009-02-21T22:23:00.001-08:002009-02-21T22:23:59.358-08:00

What should a person look for when to invest in the stock market ? The stock market is always said to be a reflection of the economic future of the country, and in the view of many experts, seen to be an indicator of the next 6 months to 1 year. So what does the future say for the country ? You need to be cautious, monitor the sectors of the economy that are not so affected by the company, look

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-39148475199357171372009-02-15T07:57:00.000-08:002009-02-15T07:58:39.312-08:00

Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had warned that the rate of climate change was reaching epic proportions, and the effects were generally under-estimated. It had predicted that the rate of warming would increase and damage would be far more than thought. Well, a recent research indicated that the actual bad effects of global warming are going to be far more severe

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-53414043591444885692009-02-12T10:12:00.001-08:002009-02-14T08:43:57.786-08:00

In earlier cases such as the case dealing with Quattrochi and Bofors, or the murder case against Shibu Soren, it was pretty evident that the Congress Government at the Center was quite familiar with the idea of not treating everybody as equal before the law. If a person was needed by the Government or was close to it, it was pretty evident that the case would be weakened, or allowed to die a slow

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-36039178729781262622009-02-08T10:15:00.000-08:002009-02-08T10:16:53.895-08:00

Nowadays, there are a number of shops (primarily in the area of apparel and clothing) that seek to attract customers through offering huge discounts. So you have brands such as Priknit offering 80% sale on their jackets, Cantabil offering 80% discount on all clothes, Pepe Jeans branding a sale logo of Buy 2, get 2 free, Kouton's offering 50% + 50% and so on. I have been shopping in many of these,

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-23852006921845796342009-02-07T08:36:00.000-08:002009-02-11T10:55:56.927-08:00

The current Chief Election Commissioner (the CEC, Mr Gopalaswami) set the cat among the pigeons by recommending recently that an Election Commissioner, Mr. Navin Chawla be removed. This recommendation was made on January 16, 2009, but became public news on the 29th of January, 2009 when it got published as headline news. And it set off a political fire-storm with political parties, constitutional

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-89002190803254081532009-02-06T11:59:00.000-08:002009-02-07T08:35:19.871-08:00

The prevalence of dowry in today's society is an open fact; most people see it in operation either in their own marriage, or in the marriage of their family members; or you see it on operation in the case of acquaintances. So as an example, I have seen dowry in operation in the case of a family friend where her in-laws insisted on a car as a part of the marriage (and even specified the type of

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-83678999175520238142009-01-27T19:15:00.000-08:002009-01-27T19:18:08.347-08:00

The scandal about Satyam just refuses to die down. There are so many questions that remain open, and there is the major feeling that even though the Central Government took quick action once Raju had come out with his confessional statement, the state Government of Andhra Pradesh is not being so open. Before Raju had made his statement, the Chief Minister, Rajshekhar Reddy had made a statement to

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-16785585118913105742009-01-20T10:21:00.000-08:002009-01-23T10:43:36.169-08:00

In India, there are very few things most people dread higher than a sudden arrest by a police officer. And instances of policemen hauling away people to jail happen often enough (if you read newspapers, you will find enough stories of people being arrested and led to jail for being accused of various crimes). These powers of the police, typically without restraints or responsibility, have led to

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-25607004234831932362009-01-13T06:16:00.000-08:002009-01-20T10:20:42.013-08:00

Corruption in the judiciary is a difficult issue for the Government and for other investigative arms such as the media to handle. The judiciary has a much higher respect that most other arms of the Government, and the judges are also armed with contempt laws that can scare most people. So it has been the stuff of rumors and whispers, this entire talk about corruption in the judiciary. It is

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-33194507551532527952009-01-07T10:12:00.000-08:002009-01-07T11:08:46.569-08:00

India has seen corporate scandals in the past, but never one of this magnitude. A software company, touted as a success story, the 4th largest software company in India and one that services around 1/3rd of the Fortune 500 companies, the events of the past one month have been a total shock. They have called into question the entire range of issues related to ethics, corporate governance,

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-10836558676729585522009-01-05T09:51:00.000-08:002009-01-05T10:37:07.856-08:00

The Jammu and Kashmir issue remains complicated. The state was signed into the Indian Union in difficult circumstances, at a time when Pakistani invaders wanted to conquer the state for eventual integration into Pakistan. At the time, the Maharajah of the state finally changed his stance from trying to be independent and signed the instrument of Accession and the state officially became a part of

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-61061734381973464172008-12-18T21:22:00.000-08:002008-12-20T05:13:47.695-08:00

The subject of this post can be captured using the word 'Critical'. Are the highways projects being undertaken by the National Highway Authority of India critical for the development of the country ? And does the current pace of development so bad that it can be termed critical. The answer is yes to both questions, and outlines the problems that this country faces in terms of infrastructure. The

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-45376422353307516282008-12-18T10:23:00.000-08:002008-12-18T20:02:41.086-08:00

If you have been reading the financial papers for the past 2 days, you would have realized that suddenly something seemed to be happening at Satyam, and if you were more interested, you would have read that suddenly Satyam seemed to be in the eye of a storm regarding issues of corporate governance. It all started when Satyam announced that it was planning on spending $ 1.3 billion on

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-61191834585728452552008-12-09T07:04:00.000-08:002008-12-09T07:11:20.040-08:00

After the devastating attacks in Mumbai late November 2008, the pressure on Pakistan escalated tremendously. For the last 2 decades, Pakistan has been using the policy of sponsoring terrorists (not only Pakistan, since after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan along with the US and Saudi Arabia armed people to fight against the Russians, using religion as the driving force), and

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-37028485430872771852008-11-30T10:57:00.000-08:002008-12-03T10:08:28.622-08:00

Ever since the spate of bomb attacks in the last couple of years, leading to the extraordinary spectacle of bombs across Jaipur, Delhi, Bangalore, and Surat, there has been an element of insecurity building up. One would never be sure of where the next attack would come from, and any place or mode of transport was considered insecure. There was a lot of public anger, but the Congress Government

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-27012287918693506542008-11-26T00:52:00.000-08:002008-11-26T04:17:05.166-08:00

One of the major ingredients of the emissions that cause global warming is Carbon Dioxide (CO2). The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been steadily increasing for the past many years (even decades), and except for a few naysayers, it has been accepted that global warming is here to stay. However, efforts to reduce or cap the emissions on a global scale have not been as successful as

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-38456198713389630972008-11-20T03:55:00.000-08:002008-11-20T03:58:26.645-08:00

Diabetes has been called a lifestyle disease, one that affects people who have moved onto a richer lifestyle (their food has got richer with more starch, more sugar, and lesser amount of direct physical work). As a consequence, the incidence of diabetes in countries (that are moving from a poor state to a state of rapid economic development) is increasing at a rapid pace. India is one such

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-81956684978347166332008-11-16T10:36:00.000-08:002008-11-16T10:38:48.044-08:00

The recession word is haunting markets the world over. The US was already in recession, and given its status as the driver of the world economy, it is not a good portent for the rest of the economies all over the world. Other economies are starting to get badly affected; the collapse of an economy such as Iceland typically is of concern only to the natives, but a recession in countries such as

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-18064983640515175392008-11-05T21:06:00.000-08:002008-11-06T08:06:11.425-08:00

For the first time in the country, the term 'Hindu terrorist' has come into common usage. It all started with the Malegaon blasts of September 29, outside the office of SIMI where 6 people died in the explosion, and many others were injured. As it turns out, this was not a case where terrorists, inspired by the word of radical Islam, had committed the crime. While the blast is under probe, all

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-79539440373040641662008-11-03T09:43:00.000-08:002008-11-03T10:06:10.902-08:00

The Left is waxing eloquent over the current economic problems sweeping all over the globe. The Left parties, represented primarily by the CPM in India, claim credit for opposing FDI in insurance upto 49%, for preventing full capital convertibility, for banking sector reform, and so on. In addition, they claim credit for such social alleviation schemes such as the National Employment Guarantee

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-45950708316220379512008-10-25T23:57:00.000-07:002008-10-26T04:08:54.842-07:00

In India, the police derive their powers from laws enacted during the British time. These laws were meant to enforce the power of the state (and the rulers), and this sentiment drives the power and role of the police. Throughout India, if citizens are polled over the role of the police, you will find it hard to find people who have positive views. This is also my personal view; my interaction

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-90236088392168851602008-10-25T10:36:00.000-07:002008-10-25T23:51:39.042-07:00

The drama over Raj Thackeray is reaching a new high. Raj Thackeray, once he split from the Shiv Sena had to make a separate image for himself. So, one of the ways to do this was to try to appeal to the parochial nature of people; blame outsiders for whatever is the economic poor condition and try to inflame their sentiments. He has managed to be somewhat successful in this quest, inflaming

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-31883811739680420162008-10-17T20:29:00.000-07:002008-10-17T21:09:39.365-07:00

Indian MP's and MLA's are the major supporters of our sovereign rights. All it takes is for somebody outside the country to talk about how India should behave, and you can have an uproar (if Parliament is in session, then suspension of the zero hour and demands to give a proper response) with all the politicians trying their best to portray themselves as the sole defender of the honour and

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-84436932637528109832008-10-09T09:12:00.000-07:002008-10-09T09:14:09.979-07:00

In a landmark deal that broke many facets of the international nuclear embargo on NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) non-signatory nations, the US has finally signed a nuclear deal with India. This has been among the most heated and debated agreements in recent times. Part of a mission to make US-India ties closer, and to relax some of the restrictions on India in the nuclear area, the deal

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-82902619330862168112008-10-04T10:21:00.000-07:002008-10-04T10:52:50.223-07:00

The Nano project was a dream for Ratan Tata, and he was wooed by many states eager to get this prestigious project to their state. Besides the prestige, the project was also expected to generate jobs (the main project plus ancillaries are expected to be big business). Of course, there was the expectation that land needed to be sought for this purpose. And therein lies the problem. When a project

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-18139033043034881092008-10-03T03:42:00.000-07:002008-10-03T11:33:28.676-07:00

RTI, for all its slowness, and huge backlog, is still proving to be beneficial to common citizens. I had mentioned in a previous post, a phrase that I like to use to for the effects of an RTI application - a lightning torch that exposes sloth and shines the beacon of openness on the red tape present in our Government. This feeling gets reinforced when you read about cases such as this one where a

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-3370212500936905812008-09-27T11:12:00.000-07:002008-09-27T11:35:08.080-07:00

In yet another vivid depiction of the poor state of security in the country (and especially in the capital city), a bomb blast happened in the Mehrauli region of Delhi; this blast killed a young boy (he had stopped to pick up the tiffin in which the bomb was kept) and injured many more. This is shocking because of many reasons:1. With some major bomb blasts having happened in Delhi only a

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-9772603655047130602008-09-17T02:34:00.001-07:002008-09-23T03:28:39.969-07:00

We talk about the police force being a help to people, a friendly hand towards the citizens of the country; helping them in getting solutions to their problems, and preventing unfairness and crime in society. By now people reading this must be thinking that either I am totally ignorant, or that this article is leading to something else. That part is true. This article is leading to something else

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-24883337589170043732008-09-17T02:33:00.000-07:002008-09-23T02:55:57.987-07:00

The recent attacks (bomb blasts) in Delhi that killed 10's of people seem to have finally made the Government realize how its hands are being burnt with respect to having an anti-terror law. Over the past many years, most observers have come to the realization that any policy change in India happens only for political reasons, and the same is true with respect to having a much tougher anti-terror

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-1569039205294810642008-09-13T11:44:00.000-07:002008-09-13T12:26:16.227-07:00

It seems like we are living in a B-grade movie about some invisible hands deciding to blow up things all over the country, and soon you have explosions happening on a regular basis in various cities over the country; and on the movie theme, the politicians the police are either involved, or are incompetent. Well, guess what, this is not a movie. Terrorists are cocking a snook at the country, and

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-55201329038684821042008-09-09T02:23:00.003-07:002008-09-10T07:48:20.268-07:00

India has a variety of problems relating to traffic management, such as overall bad conditions of road, not enough road capacity in cities, a variety of slow-moving and fast moving vehicles on the roads, and so on. One of the worst, observable by almost every person on the road, is the lack of following of traffic rules and laws. People feel that traffic rules are guides that can be followed or

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-33612623553680951422008-09-02T10:58:00.002-07:002008-09-04T11:47:40.049-07:00

The year was 1999, with the month being January. The Nandan clan was a well known clan, with the senior, the grandfather being a former naval chief of India, S M Nanda; the father was a very rich arms dealer, Suresh Nanda. With such a household, and with plenty of riches, getting a BMW car for the son Sanjeev Nanda (19 years old at that time) was not something that was seen as difficult, and the

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-34927723996862876342008-08-24T07:58:00.003-07:002008-08-31T11:52:58.706-07:00

A few months ago, in an important case where the young man of an important and powerful family is on trial for the drunken running over of some poor people in Delhi, there was a lot of commotion. What was revealed was the notion that India's judicial system could be as corrupt as other parts of the executive, when a TV channel ran a sting program that revealed that the prosecution and defense

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-53773689313544085352008-08-24T07:58:00.001-07:002008-08-28T09:42:40.252-07:00

Ragging is a phenomenon that is not unique to India. It is present in many societies, in many forms and with different names. In India, it can sometimes take on a pleasant sense of introductions, of breaking barriers and introducing new people to life in an academic community. However, at the same time, there are many many cases where raqging takes on a more offensive nature, where the senior

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-78715696389479190972008-08-24T07:57:00.000-07:002008-08-24T12:37:57.480-07:00

I read this article in a newspaper, and was shocked (and shocked is a mild word for what I felt). Read a few excerpts, and then we can discuss further:Dr Harish Shetty, however, doesn't buy the logic. "Drinking with dad is just as bad as it can sow the seeds of alcoholism in adult life.'' He feels that there are some parts of the big bad world that parents should not get inside the homes. It's

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-25472430278411806742008-08-19T06:38:00.000-07:002008-08-19T07:12:36.477-07:00

The police force in this country is a mixed set, with many good and bad. There have been dedicated officers who have brought a lot of good name to the country such as Mr. Riberio, Ms. Kiran Bedi, and many others. They are a credit to the police force, and serve as a figure of awe for many of the citizens of this country. However, it is also true that there are many members of the police force of

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-12762839069363579862008-08-19T04:11:00.000-07:002008-08-19T06:36:32.306-07:00

There are a number of areas where modern science and problems clash with traditions. In such cases, a reasonable expectation is that there is a compromise between traditions and the needs of today; in some cases, there is a need that the tradition changes. Why did I suddenly think of this topic ? Well, I came across this article that describes how idol immersion, a joyful and integral part of

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-73471805035201872682008-08-15T11:10:00.000-07:002008-08-15T11:49:12.530-07:00

Rainfall in a city has typically always been welcomed. The sheer relief from heat, of water falling from the sky always brings out a better mood in people, makes children more excited, relieves water pressure to some extent (through recharging of ground water). There have always been problems related to some water-logging, some businesses getting disturbed, and so on. However, in recent years,

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-10555381143827310632008-08-12T03:39:00.000-07:002008-08-12T13:03:55.580-07:00

It is a well known (and nightmarish scenario) that the groundwater levels in cities and the rural parts of the country are declining. In rural parts of the country, the promise of free electricity, and agriculture that is not well fed by canals (along with some wrong crop planting policies in which heavy water seeking plants have been planted) has caused a tremendous decline in the water levels.

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-50952363360071458512008-08-09T11:18:00.000-07:002008-08-09T11:26:41.371-07:00

Driving during the night is prone to accidents. After all, this is a time when the human body expects to get its rest (even if you sleep during the day), there is less light(in fact, a lot less); the factors that cause accidents are far more. For some time now, authorities in Tamil Nadu have been finding that the rate of accidents during the night has been increasing, and a number of factors have

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-13603122180713181382008-08-09T10:42:00.000-07:002008-08-09T11:18:18.536-07:00

Most people have their own story about their interactions with the police force, especially in their stronghold (police stations). Let me give an instance of what happened in a police station when I made the mistake of losing a draft (actually the draft did not reach the destination when it was sent via courier, but for the bank, I had lost the draft). I had the counterfoil of the draft, so

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-67408459232674971482008-08-05T06:03:00.000-07:002008-08-05T23:32:45.111-07:00

The Section 498(A) of the IPC is meant for prevention of crimes against women, something that this country has struggled with for quite some time now. If you read the actual Section, it talks about: "Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33781238.post-60317443930863409702008-08-05T05:51:00.000-07:002008-08-05T06:02:24.060-07:00

In the mix of the many dowry related laws and court clarifications / edicts, add another one. This one is something that strikes to make sure that family settlements are all equitable, and also rectifying one part of the provisions of the the dowry law. The current dowry laws are harsh, and put a lot of the onus of proving innocence on the husbands in case of dowry related deaths within 7 years

Ashishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17375418045330076026noreply@blogger.com0