Lokpal campaigner Anna Hazare will attend a rally in Uttarakhand organized by chief minister B C Khanduri after the BJP-ruled state became the first to adopt the Jan Lokpal bill advocated by the Gandhian and his group.  While Hazare's presence is likely to see Congress leaders (like Digvijay Singh) claim to be vindicated in accusing Team Anna of being a BJP catspaw, it could help recently-appointed CM Khanduri's bid to stem...

Team Anna is worried that it is increasingly coming across as the “B team” of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Today, Anna Hazare said he wanted to restructure his team to include Muslims, Dalits, tribals and young people. It was the latest of many U-turns that Hazare has taken in recent days, on issues such as the shape of his core committee and whether his team would campaign specifically against...

Nothing straight can ever emerge from the crooked timber of a parochial mind. Those responsible for the decision to drop A.K. Ramanujan’s essay on the Ramayana from Delhi University’s undergraduate Arts course argue in substance that from childhood these students are told about the sacred character of the epic. This is why it occupies a special place in the Indian psyche. Its characters are perceived to be divine creatures. To...

It has to be but a means to development, not an end in itself Is India doing marvellously well, or is it failing terribly? Depending on whom you speak to, you could pick up either of those answers with some frequency. One story, very popular among a minority but a large enough group—of Indians who are doing very well (and among the media that cater largely to them)—runs something like...

'Economic growth will need massive energy. Will we allow an accident in Japan, in a 40-year-old reactor at FukushIMA, arising out of extreme natural stresses, to derail our dreams to be an economically developed nation?' Every single atom in the universe carries an unIMAginably powerful battery within its heart, called the nucleus. This form of energy, often called Type-1 fuel, is hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of times more powerful...