Here are some factoids to jolt you out of your Sunday complacency*:

52% of rural households have no domestic power connection
20% of rural habitations must walk for miles to obtain safe drinking water – and have access to it only for a few hours a day for much of the year
The average village is two kilometers away from an all-weather road

When was the last time you walked two kilometers in the heat and dust of rural India?
Image courtesy and Copyright Kailash Mittal
* From a McKinsey Quarterly article on Nurturing entrepreneurship in India’s villages, …

Start the weekend with this Tehelka story that tries to explain why the British thought Pakistan would be a more robust democracy than India (the article was written before the results were announced).
Next, a first-hand account of a visit to a part of India where Mao-spouting armed rebels are the law…(Sudip Mazumdar – who wrote this – is also the author of the article mentioned in comment #72 here)
A thought-provoking Op-Ed piece from the New York Times on how your willingness (or not) to slap your father in the …

Many of you must have read a report in The Hindu from a few weeks ago by unnamed “Eminent Historians” titled, “From ‘India Shining’ to ‘India was Shining’“. The report (dt. 3rd May) appeared to be an amateurish attempt at trashing some of the claims made in the BJP’s manifesto regarding India’s past and heritage.
It had excerpts from the BJP’s manifesto and brief counter-points dismissing the claims and assertions. Curiously – in spite of being authored by “Eminent Historians” – it was surprisingly light on references and historical sources.
Dr. …

As I was clearing my backlog of articles from past few weeks, I chanced upon this interview of Digvijay Singh by Karan Thapar.
Read the excerpts against the backdrop of events leading up to the elections and the 2009 mandate to Congress (I)…and you will see why I chose the title of the post.
*** Excerpts from Devil’s Advocate: Digvijay on what if Cong loses ***
Karan Thapar: The revelation that your government has withdrawn the red corner notice against the Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quattrocchi, is an embarrassment. What justification you can …

Continuing the series on Hoax Emails (read Part 1 and Part 2 here). Late last week Ashutosh sent me this email which had all the hallmarks of a typical “hoax email”: Lack of references, no specifics, no details and hardly any links. The subject of the email was “5% Tax On Foreign Income For All NRIs“. Read on:
*** Hoax Email Begins ***
NEW DELHI – The Government of India announced April 22 imposition of a flat 5% tax on all NRIs over their world-wide income.
Income that is already taxed in …

“Democracy is a device that insures that we shall be governed no better than we deserve…”
- Adlai Stevenson
Related: A few past quotes here.