A working group appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has recommended “autonomy to the extent possible” for Jammu and Kashmir. “The question of autonomy and its demand can be examined in the light of the Kashmir accord or in some other manner or on the basis of some other formula as the present Prime Minister may deem fit and appropriate so as to restore the autonomy to the extent possible,” the...
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Row over World Bank's Kashmir clause
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has assured a delegation of J&K MPs that the government will oppose a disclaimer clause put up by World Bank in return for a Rs 740 crore loan it has sanctioned for a watershed project in the state. The Bank has asked the state government to give an undertaking that the loan would not be treated as a certificate that the "disputed territory" was an integral...
More »Built on illusion by Jayati Ghosh
The collapse of the Dubai dream is not without any implications; it may be an indication that the travails of finance capitalism are not over. GLOBAL capitalism is in a phase in which it must deal with the fruits of the overextension during the previous boom, and there is no doubt that this is going to be painful. The financial crisis in the United States and some other developed countries...
More »India opens Pandora's box over proposed new state by Mahesh Rangarajan
The near total political paralysis of one of India's largest states, Andhra Pradesh, over its proposed carve-up, raises fresh questions about how the world's largest democracy will handle questions of identity and territory in this young century. Telangana, the new state proposed, is not a fresh demand, but even as it seems closer than ever to materialising, it opens a Pandora's box in a vast country of over a billion...
More »Why Bharat isn’t India by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
The widening chasm between India and Bharat is perhaps best reflected in the manner in which electricity is consumed. The neon-lights of Mumbai and Delhi beckon many with their glitter, but large swathes of territory across the country literally remain in the dark more than six decades after political independence. The government remains obsessed till today with building mega power projects — even our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had second...
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