Anna Hazare’s fast puts into focus the government’s attempts to protect politicians India Against Corruption, a group formed by Anna Hazare and other social activists and former judges, has given 17 reasons why the Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde, now the Karnataka Lokayukta, is far better than the Bill prepared by the union government. The Jan Lokpal Bill, hailed as a civil society initiative, provides for...
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The deception at the heart of ‘Rising India' by Pankaj Mishra
From the Prime Minister down, WikiLeaks has exposed the rotten state of the world's largest democracy for all to see. Food prices become intolerable for the poor. Protests against corruption paralyse Parliament. Then a series of American diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks exposes a brazenly mendacious and venal ruling class; the head of government adored by foreign business people and journalists loses his moral authority, turning into a lame duck. This...
More »Old TB drugs, older tests driving spread of drug resistance: Gates by Aarti Dhar
“Most common TB test is more than 125 years old; TB drugs are more than 40 years old” Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates on Thursday said the large number of deaths in the world due to tuberculosis was unacceptable and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was all for supporting a low-cost affordable vaccine for the disease. “Whatever helps the poorest, we are committed to it,'' Mr. Gates said at...
More »Long way to go by PS Krishnan
Budget 2011-12 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. THREE decades ago, in the early years of the Special Component Plan (SCP) for Scheduled Castes – very recently renamed inappropriately as Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) – Indira Gandhi on her return as Prime Minister wrote two historical D.O. letters dated March 12, 1980, one to Central Ministers and the other to State Chief Ministers, regarding the SCP in the Central...
More »From cradle to grave by S Dorairaj
In Tamil Nadu, untouchability is so deep-rooted that there are separate burial spaces for Dalits and upper castes even in some urban pockets. “Samarasam ulavum idame Nam vaazhvil kaanaa Samarasam ulavum idame… Jaathiyil melor enrum Thaaznthavar keezhor enrum bethamillathu Ellorum mudivil serndhidum kaadu Thollai inriye thoongidum veedu Ulaginile ithuthaan Nam vaazhvil kaanaa Samarasam ulavum idame…” (Here, in this place pervades equality Which one could not have seen ever in one's lifetime! Steering clear of caste discriminations Such as the high, the low and...
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