Continued from Part I.  The fascinating story of a certain Mr Hasan Ali Khan would have remained just a story but for a PIL petition by Sh. Ram Jethmalani and a Supreme Court bench which clearly felt enough was enough. Yesterday, I shared with you the trail of news-reports leading up to February of this year.  The final trigger to this post were three news-reports that appeared last week and a remarkable observation by Supreme Court.  The first of these three reports from last week was by CNN-IBN that confirmed what …

I usually avoid posting large sections of articles, interviews etc as “excerpts” but I am making an exception for this one…I stumbled on this interview of Sh Arun Shourie an hour ago – and am putting these excerpts up, given the nature of its contents…Please read on – and please share widely…All is not well, All is desperately not well… More on this when I have some time to gather my thoughts…In the meantime, I am grieving for the country.
*** Excerpts from Karan Thapar’s interview with Arun Shourie ***
Karan …

I woke up this morning to this statement by David Cameron, Prime Minister of Great Britain. Speaking at a conference in Germany, he said (emphasis added):
Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism

He went on to say:
Let’s properly judge these organisations: Do they believe in universal human rights – including for women and people of other faiths? Do they believe in equality of all before the law? Do they believe in democracy and the right of people to elect their …

As another young girl is gang-raped in Delhi, is it not time to drastically overhaul rape laws that currently provide for a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment in rape cases?
Should the maximum penalty for a rape not be increased to a death sentence? What is the most appropriate punishment for a person convicted of rape? Please share your thoughts and views below…

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<br /> <a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/4235473/” mce_href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/4235473/”>What should be the punishment for a person convicted of rape?</a><span style=”font-size:9px;” mce_style=”font-size:9px;”><a href=”http://polldaddy.com/features-surveys/” mce_href=”http://polldaddy.com/features-surveys/”>survey software</a></span><br />
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My vote goes for capital punishment. …

Kashi – one of my most beloved cities is under has been attacked…once again…
I am still gathering more information but would like to open this thread so that you can share thoughts and comments…
This thread is likely to be continuously updated over the next several hours..stay tuned for more.
Related Post: Anger, tears and despair
***  UPDATE 1  ***
UNBELIEVABLE RT @KVSarmaJ “NDTV anchor just went on air forgetting he was still on air “Tell Ananth not to mention IM mail.” Great!
From Dainik Bhaskar: One girl dead and another device defused; IM …

Dear Friends, Join us for a live chat on 12th December, Sunday at 7pm IST on the root cause(s) of “corruption” and what you and I can do about this…
This event is jointly hosted by the Indian Army Fans on facebook and || Satyameva Jayate ||
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A Scandal Bigger than India’s Defence Budget: What can YOU and I do about it?

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Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Also see: A rotting judiciary, a decaying polity and a stinking system – What are YOU doing about it?

Dear All: It is my pleasure to post this fascinating & thought-provoking guest article by Sanjay that looks into some lesser-known aspects of the killing of Swami Lakshmanananda in Orissa in 2008 and the attack’s links with Maoists and Christianity…Pl read and share. Comments welcome, as always.
*** On Kandhamal, Maoists and Christianity – Sanjay ***
On August 23rd 2008, VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was murdered leading to the infamous Kandhamal riots which received widespread media coverage with the Sangh Parivar, being the prime accused, being at the receiving end for …

I had been hearing the name of Narayanan Krishnan for the last few days but travel and work prevented me from finding out more…This morning, I finally read his story…and could not stop my tears… Many of you may have already read/heard his story…Those of you who have not, please read brief excerpts below. Krishnan’s story starts in 2002…At age 20, he was young, award-winning chef with a five-star hotel group, short-listed for an elite job in Switzerland. But a quick family visit home before heading to Europe …

This post was prompted by an article I read yesterday. From Eye On: Conditional Cash Transfers by Adrienne Villani, this brief excerpt (emphasis added):
What do we really know about what works and what doesn’t when fighting debilitating global poverty?
What about aid? Does it “work”? …what paths to development truly maximize results? Where should we concentrate our energies? Should we concentrate on the role of institutions, macroeconomic policies, growth strategies, and other country-level factors? Or should we take a more grassroots approach—concentrating on microeconomic interventions such as …

Rakesh Ahuja concludes his article on CWG, “Salvage India’s pride…” with these lines (from ToI; emphasis added):
…The bottom line is that a systemic, nationwide malaise has been exposed. It could be a catalyst for declaring independence from incompetence, corruption and the arrogance embedded in DNA of the ruling class. Postponing the Games will give unambiguous notice to the tainted to Quit India.
It would be a non-violent Dandi moment for the aam admi. It would be a fitting homage to Gandhi’s birth anniversary is October 2. And in the spirit of …