Udayan Namboodiri
Hollywood of the ugly
That’s how Australian author-politician Mark Latham described politics. Baba Ramdev, Om Puri, etc. used less refined terms, but through song, dance and film, much the same message has been hammered into the Indian psyche over generations
Osama rejected by India’s Muslims
The Pakistanisation of Al-Qaeda may cause nightmares to security experts, but there are signs that Osama’s creed will not find fertile ground in India
Is India losing to Maoism?
Harinder Baweja’s report from Maoism’s ground zero in last Sunday’s Hindustan Times reads chillingly similar to Mathew Aid’s description on the US Army’s situation in Afghanistan in Intel Wars. In both places, the hunter, conventional superiority notwithstanding, is now the hunted
The new voice of urban India?
Mumbai, Punjab and now Delhi – Congress’ cup of woe brimeth over. Is urban India returning to the BJP? Not clear yet
And justice for all?
Narendra Modi has been cleared in the Gulbarg massacre case. But the charge of partisanship and selective morality against the corporatised media establishment of India is still to come unstuck
Is India running a Marshall Plan?
It certainly seems so from the British reaction to the MMRCA decision. India's dense plans for military might has revived the armaments industries of the richie rich countries and their economic revival plans seem indexed to India's strategic vision
Authors as political football
Twice already this year we have seen famous writers being dragged into the political arena. Politicians will be politicians, but isn’t it time intellectuals showed some spine?
The crisis
Understanding Pakistan through an Indian prism is important, provided it is entirely new and free of petty schadenfreude
The story we are missing
The failure of the WTO ministerial in mid-December to save the Doha process signals the end for globalisation as we know it. 2012 may see the first stirrings of change in the discourse on economic controls
Imagining India without corruption
Indians Like Us (PLU) have chicanery in our DNA. Ending corruption would shatter our delightful economy, scatter our “contacts” and stunt future plans based on cosy “settings”. Anna gave us a temporary guilt trip, but thanks to Parliament's “supremacy” all is well
