Start this weekend with P Sainath at his best on Celeb crusades & the death of politics. A very brief excerpt:
The Lok Sabha constituencies of Mumbai averaged over 60 per cent voting between 1957 and 1977….
The barrage of celebrity propaganda to “get out there to vote” had an impact in Mumbai. Voting fell by 6 per cent….In Mumbai, voting was 41.41 per cent this time around as compared to 47.15 per cent in 2004.
Corporate media’s cutest efforts failed to arrest a decline in voting percentage. Nor did corporate-sponsored events and NGO …

As some of you know, I have been organising a regular monthly get-together of like-minded fellow citizens and concerned Indians in London since the Mumbai Remembrance event that we did in December.
The meetings have continued steadily since the first follow-up in January. The mailing list now includes around 40 people…and we always run short of time (though rarely on food!).
In between the discussions and shared pizzas, we have also managed to raise funds for Loksatta and ADR (Election Watch).
The next meeting is on Monday (27th April) and the agenda is …

Start your weekend with this great post by Kislay Chandra on Riots and “Firaaq“.
Next, read TVR Shenoy on Why Varun and why not Geelani? but more importantly - think about this question that he raises in the article:
Are the likes of Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mullah Sufi Muhammad correct in holding that Islam and electoral democracy stand at two ends of the spectrum? And if they are wrong — as I hope they are — where are the Muslim leaders that are telling them off?
Here is an unusual post on how Twitter can make …

Alert reader Naren* brought this snippet of news from the “Sakaal” newspaper in Maharashtra to my attention…It is slightly unsettling.
Titled, “Border areas Kashmiris in Nagpur” (Feb 19 ’09, report by Naresh Dongre), it talks about a large number of migrants from Jammu & Kashmir who have set camp in the city.
Excerpts:
A large number of Kashmiri families living along Pakistan border have set up camps in Nagpur. They have been saying that they have moved to this area because they are scared of terrorists. They have names, addresses and phone numbers of many respectable persons of this …

In an article that appeared on iVarta last week, Vivek Gumaste asked, “Hindu CM for J&K: Any Takers?”. Vivek mentioned how (emphasis mine):
Despite the perpetual debate about secularism and communalism, religious bigotry has not been the hallmark of Indian democracy. There was no widespread outrage or even a murmur of protest when a Muslim has been elected as the chief minister of predominantly Hindu majority states. Abdul Gafoor was the chief minister of Bihar which has a Muslim population of 16.5%. Maharashtra, a supposed bastion of Hindutva with a Muslim …

…in any Indian newspaper? This is the first time I am seeing it in an Indian publication…

Notice the demarcation between pale green and the dark green areas…As most of you would know, they reflect the areas occupied illegally by Pakistan and the part ceded to China.
I wonder if this means that we are veering toewards accepting the LoC as the formal border between India and Pakistan?
Comments and thoughts welcome. And if any of you have seen similar maps elsewhere, could you please link them here? Thanks.
* Pic from DNA dt. …

This is a “lazy” post…Lazy because it is actually a collection of posts by different bloggers/writers who I follow online. Yet, I don’t feel the need to be particularly apologetic since I believe this collection of measures are some of the most forceful, realistic, practical ways of dealing with Pakistan. They all centre around the need to dismantle the power structures in Pakistan primarily by following a strategy of balkanization.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

I have written on this theme before (in a long/ *must read* post)…but the recent attacks in Mumbai add a while …

In a widely reported statement, Pakistan’s PM President* Asif Ali Zardari said recently that India should not let rogue “non-state actors” push the two countries into a confrontation, thereby implying that non-state actors were solely responsible for the carnage in Mumbai.
Let me ask these questions to President Zardari:
1. If – as you claim – Pakistan itself is fighting these non-state actors, why is your government dragging its feet on handing over leaders of organisations supposedly banned by your predecessors? Why have past governments stonewalled long-standing Indian requests for handing over criminals and drug smugglers with …

“By staying away from polls, the people have proved they are not interested in election or selection. The government is staging a drama to fool the international community but it has failed…
so said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the “moderate” Hurriyat in a news-report today.
A turnout of 65% – braving extreme cold – does not sound like “staying away fom polls” to me…

Start your weekend by reading Sh Modi’s interview in The Indian Express…which re-emphasises why development ought to be priority #1 for any political party today.
Then read what drives young, articulate leaders like Prakash Sharma to bat for Bajrang Dal (Just in case, you are wondering, there are numerous points in his interview which I disagree with – Shantanu)
…and finally, here is why Lalit Koul believes Syed Ali Shah Geelani should be given a one-way ticket to Pakistan.
Bonus: Have a look at the new depth being plumbed by mainstream media while reporting on current affairs.
Excerpts from …