Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni poses with the trophy in the backdrop of the Gateway of India monument in Mumbai, …India is a country on the go; at any given moment in time, there is much happening in the fields of politics and governance, of finance, of development; there is constant churning in society, considerable activity in sports and in the arts... It's almost too much to keep track of. And hence, this effort: a real-time, constantly updated look at the events that matter.
9:40 pm: Spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba continues to be in a very critical condition, doctors attending to him said. According to the doctors at Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital at Puttaparthi in Anantapur district, Baba is suffering from liver failure while the heart has turned weak. Read on
9:30 pm: More on the Lokpal issue: As corruption allegations swirled around Lokpal Bill drafting panel members Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant, social activists came out in strong support of the duo and said that none of the civil society members on the joint committee would resign.
'No one is going to resign,' Arvind Kejriwal, a member of the drafting panel, said. More on this story
9:10 pm: This piece of news should be music to the ears of IPL team owners as Sri Lanka Cricket extended the deadline for its players' return from the IPL till May 18, a compromise which put an end to the uncertainty over their availability.
8.50 pm: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 hit eastern Japan, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Read More
8.30 pm: 'Initial' reports from government-run Hyderabad-based forensic lab suggested that the CD allegedly containing conversations of Lokpal Bill drafting committee co-chair Shanti Bhushan may not have been tampered, Delhi Police sources said.
8.15 pm: Congress's Industry Minister Narayan Rane locked horns with the Shiv Sena by alleging that some corporate houses have offered Rs.5 billion to the saffron party to oppose and scuttle the Jaitapur nuclear power project. More
7:40 pm: Big-hitting West Indian opener Chris Gayle is likely to start for Royal Challengers Bangalore when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League match at the Eden Gardens tomorrow. Read on
7:30 pm: Now for some news from the world of finance - India's largest listed firm Reliance Industries said fiscal fourth-quarter net profit rose 14 per cent to its highest ever, but it lagged analysts' estimates as flat production from its gas blocks and lower than expected refining margins weighed on results. Yahoo! Finance has the story
7:22 pm: Now more on Lokpal Bill issue: RTI crusader Arvind Kejriwal, a key figure in Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption, commenting on the CD controversy said this is a malicious campaign against the panel members of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee, and added that there is no question of Bhushans resigning over the issue.
"There is a smear campaign against the panel members of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee. This is a malicious campaign and nobody will resign," he said. More on Yahoo! India News
7:08 pm: It's time for some mudslinging on the Jaitapur nuclear plant issue: Industry Minister Narayan Rane alleged that the opposition Shiv Sena had got funding of Rs.5 billion to stall the 9,900-MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project. More on Yahoo! India News
6:50 pm: More on the black money case: "Were government sleeping all these years on the issue of blackmoney," was how the Supreme Court said while criticising Centre's probe restricting to an individual and being evasive about the idea of an investigation by the Special Investigating Team.
6:40 pm: Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan filed his nomination for the legislative Council bypoll and declared collective assets of Rs 6.81 crore including Rs 42,27,810 of his wife Satvasheela.
As per the affidavit filed by Chavan before the Returning Officer for the May 4 bypoll, movable property in the name of Chavan is worth Rs 4,18,17,779 while it is worth Rs 30,42,810 for his wife. The immovable property being held by the chief minister is Rs 2,21,30,000 and Rs 8,25,000 by his wife. Read on
6:30 pm: The Mumbai International Airport said the intersection area of the main runway 09/27, which is under renovation since last September, will remain closed for five hours on April 23 and 30. The closure from 1130 to 1630 hrs of the main intersection of the primary runway is for shifting and realigning of the runway edge lights and centreline lights in the intersection area. More on this story
6:10 pm: Sri Lanka's decision to pull back its players from the IPL is "inappropriate", says the BCCI. "England tour, most probably is going to start from May 28 or 29, so what we have suggested that even if you (Sri Lankan players) go on May 21, you can easily attend your England tour, but they are reluctant. So, we are trying to find out a solution and resolve the issue," said BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla.
Ah well. The BCCI is perfectly happy to ignore the needs of its players for rest, recuperation, practice, down time and such-like luxuries. Thus, it can schedule the start of the IPL less than a week after the end of the World Cup; it can send the Indian team to England one week after the completion of a tour of the West Indies, and so on. But if other boards decide that it is important for its players to prepare, to rest, etc, where does the BCCI get off telling them it is "inappropriate"?
5:50 pm: Pakistan has left three tainted cricketers out of its ongoing anti-graft program -- probably on the 'horses, stable doors' premise.
5:40 pm: More on the anti-corruption movement: At a press conference a brief while ago, Magsaysay Award-winner Arvind Kejriwal fronted up to the media, and said no member of the panel formed to draft the anti-corruption bill intends to resign. Karnataka Lokayuktha Santosh Hegde had earlier said he is thinking of quitting the panel, but will talk to the other constituents first before firming up his decision.
5:25 pm: WOOT! Mahendra Singh Dhoni has made it to Time's 2011 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Here's what the magazine says -- the mini profile is written by author Chetan Bagat -- about India's World Cup-winning captain:
"In April, when India won its first Cricket World Cup in 28 years, it felt as if the entire population of 1.21 billion had spilled out into the streets to party. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 29, the Indian captain, finished the final game by flamboyantly hitting the ball into the stands, cementing his country's dominance of the world's second most popular sport. Dhoni is now universally acknowledged as India's best captain ever. He's also its most likable, exuding both cool confidence and down-to-earth humility.
As astonishing as Dhoni's talent is his background. Indian success stories are usually associated with pedigree, connections and power. Dhoni, from a small-town family of modest means, had none of these, but he's shown India that you can make it with only one thing: excellence. Dhoni doesn't just lead a cricket team; he's also India's captain of hope. And he didn't just win India the World Cup; he also taught India how to win."
The list of 100 features also industrialist Mukesh Ambani, neuroscientist and author Vilayanur Ramachandran, industrialist Azim Premji, and veteran activist Aruna Roy.
Equally interesting is the list of those Indians (using the term loosely, to include people of Indian origin) who had made the list last year, but do not figure in the latest list: Manmohan Singh; Sachin Tendulkar; Atul Gawande; Amartya Sen; social entrepreneur Sanjit Roy (whose profile, incidentally, was written by Greg Mortenson, currently in the news over the controversy surrounding his book Three Cups of Tea) and Chetan Bagat (who as pointed out earlier gets to write the profile for MS Dhoni this year). Here's the 2010 list in full
5:00 pm: Anna Hazare update: It's turning into a fairly depressing day, on the activist front, with mixed signals coming in from various quarters about the controversies the Bhushans are involved in. Earlier in the day, we had updated you about the finding of the Delhi lab, which reported that the infamous CD appears not to have been tampered with. In the aftermath, various members of Team Hazare have been speaking in tongues. Arvind Kejriwal refused all comment.
Swami Agnivesh questioned the timing of the release of the CD, which is a tad specious -- while it is fair to suggest that the CD was released to undercut the Bhushans, if it is in fact an accurate conversation that has not been doctored with, then the Bhushans offering to fix judges for vast sums is questionable, irrespective of when the conversation took place and the motives of whoever leaked the CD now (By Agnivesh's logic, the Niira Radia tapes would have to be similarly discounted, on the argument that there was some ulterior motive behind the release of the tapes at that point in time). Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde meanwhile says the processes followed by the Delhi lab to authenticate the CD have to be examined. Fair enough -- but by that token you would also need to examine the processes of the lab that said the CD was doctored. He has also, like Agnivesh, said the timing of the release of the CD is suspicious.
Elsewhere, strangely, Hegde says that if information about the land allotted to the Bhushans had appeared earlier, the father-son duo may not have made it to the panel constituted to draft the Lok Pal Bill. That is a strange statement for a jurist to make. Here's why: Prima facie, it suggests that in Hegde's opinion, the Bhushans' land acquisition was wrong. If that is the case, then how can that square with their presence on a committee formed to draft a bill to eradicate corruption? Hegde's statement seems to suggest it is too late to change the composition of the committee drafting the bill. Why? Surely, if the Bhushans are in fact culpable, the slight delay in reconstituting the committee is better than having two "corrupt" people on an anti-corruption panel?
Strangest of all is Anna Hazare's reaction, however. In the immediate aftermath of the CD controversy, the activist was quick to defend the Bhushans, and to suggest that they were being defamed. Today, however, the activist told the media that while he would answer questions about the Lok Pal Bill, he did not wish to speak about the CD controversy. That is, to put it mildly, disingenuous. The Lok Pal Bill is being framed by a committee on which the two Bhushans, Prasanth and Shanti, sit at Hazare's own invitation. The CD questions their credibility. The two are therefore part of one puzzle, and it is impossible to insulate the one from the other as Hazare now seeks to do - at least as long as the Bhushans remain on the panel.
And finally, agencies are now reporting that Santosh Hegde is rethinking his position on the drafting panel, and may quit.
On balance, if the anti-corruption movement is not to lose steam, several things need to happen: (1) The various activists need to get their heads wrapped around the issue, and respond with one voice. Equally importantly, they need to stop playing the man rather than the ball -- questioning the motives and timing of the leak of the CD does not make the CD itself go away. (2) Secondly, the veracity of the CD needs to be established, or disproved, beyond doubt -- and that means one highly competent, non-aligned authority has to examine it and tender a report everyone can accept. (3) Finally, Hazare and his team have to take stock of the land acquisition allegations swirling around the Bhushans. If the allegations are wrong, they need to say so, and stand by it. If there is something to those allegations, then Team Hazare has to bite the bullet, forget ego (it was Hazare who unilaterally co-opted the Bhushans onto the panel, despite several fellow activists being skeptical), and replace them with others of proven integrity.
After all, you cannot question corruption in others if you are found unwilling or unable to tackle corruption in your own midst, no?
4:30 pm: How can Malinga be fit to play in the IPL but not for SL? That's the question Sri Lanka's Chairmen of selectors is asking. He has written to Malinga asking him to return home for rehab. Yahoo! Cricket has the story
4:20 pm: A Chinese author plans to spend over $150,000 on 10 face lifts over a 10-month period so he can end up looking like Shakespeare. No, we are not making this up. Here is the story. In passing, wonder how many operations it will take him -- or anyone else -- to write like Shakespeare?
4:10 pm: Oh, hey, just earlier in the day (see our 10.20 am update), we told you that Sreesanth is "rumored" to be dating Riya Sen, yeah? No, says the man. He enjoys Riya's company, but only as a friend, see? Meanwhile, his folks have been pushing him to get married to a nice girl they pick out after consulting horoscopes and tea leaves and such. "My parents keep pressurizing me about marriage, so I thought that it's best to just five in than fight it," says Sreesanth. There's a franchise in the IPL that is now hoping his parents will start pressurizing him into bowling better and talking less.
4:00 pm: US President Barack Obama pushed for an affordable health care programme arguing that he would not like his countrymen to travel to countries like India and Mexico for cheaper treatment. But will that curb medical tourism? Yahoo! India Finance has the story
3:50 pm: Sudhir Kakar, India's best known psychoanalyst, has just published his autobiography 'A Book of Memory: Revelations and Confessions'. In his review in Outlook magazine, Khushwant Singh praises Kakar's skills of observation. Kakar studied engineering at a German university. He returned to India and lived with his aunt in Ahmedabad. Kakar writes about how he drifted from engineering to psychoanalysis, and the many people whose paths crossed his. He is particularly candid about his love life. Khushwant Singh writes, "…this is that rare autobiography without a trace of conceit."
3:41 pm: Termites eat Rs 1 crore in cash in a UP bank. And they appoint a district magistrate and a superintendent of police to inquire? What, they outsourced pest control to the police and judiciary now?
3:30 pm: Controversies, link-ups-- there has been a lot of hype about Dum Maro Dum. And it is all set to hit the theatres later today. Y! India Movies has all you need to know about Dum Maaro Dum.3: 27 pm: 'A R Rahman, The Spirit of Music', a new biography of the composer, draws him out enough to be able to say some new things, but could have done with more warmth, says a review in Open magazine. The author, Nusreen Munni Kabeer, has based her work on interviews with Rahman, some of which were done on Skype. Lalitha Suhasini, the reviewer, says the biography shows more substance than AR Rahman: The Musical Storm, an unauthorised biography by journalist Kamini Mathai published two years ago.
3:07 pm: The Congress is one damn smart party. No, really. It figured out a long time ago that the public is easily distracted. And so it came up with an invention that goes by the name of Digvijay Singh. Essentially, this wonderful new gadget has one USP: It can spew quotable quotes all day, each more ridiculous than the last. And while everyone -- the media, activists, the opposition, "civil society", all -- happily lay into him, the real party leaders manage to sneak under the collective radar and do their own thing. Seriously, how else do you explain Digvijay statements such as this one, asking Anna Hazare to start a fast in UP and promising his party's support?
3:02 pm: Is getting rid of stress as easy as some researchers say it is? This report says scientists are trying to develop a pill (not an anti-depressant) that can really beat stress.
2: 54 pm: Muthuvel Karunanidhi has criticized -- or, to use the jargon so beloved by us journos, "slammed" -- CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat for terming the DMK a family controlled party. The man has a point -- as recent and not so recent events have shown, his two sons are at war, the Marans who are part of the extended family have a tenuous relationship with the main branch, Kanimozhi is doing her own thing as are the patriarch's two wives... 'What control do I have?" must have been Karunanidhi's grouse when he heard Karat's critique. And while on Karunanidhi, if you haven't read this yet, here: courtesy Caravan, an excellent profile of the man.
2: 52 pm: Tata Consultancy Services(TCS), India's largest software services exporter, posted a 23% rise in quarterly net profit, beating street forecasts. Y! Finance has the updates
2:48 pm: Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's son Raghavendra has returned a site allotted to him, allegedly in violation of the rules, but a fresh controversy has erupted. Deccan Herald reports that Basavaraj Sedam, the former BJP president to whom the site has now been allotted, is building a house without getting any municipal approvals. What's more, the Bangalore Development Authority gave the site to Sedam, a former central minister, for Rs 8.64 lakh under a lease agreement when the market value is Rs 2.5 crore.
2: 25 pm: Everyone says watching too much TV is bad for children, and here's a study that confirms the belief. Six-year olds who spend most of their time watching television could end up with narrower arteries in the eyes, increasing their chances of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes in later life. The University of Sydney study, which looked at 1,500 six-to-seven-year-old children in 34 primary schools, showed that the increased health risk from each hour a day of TV was similar to that associated with an increase in blood pressure.
2: 23 pm: His next book is still some time away, says Pulitzer-winner Siddhartha Mukherjee. Okay. Gives us a wee bit more time to read this one.
2: 19 pm: "Diplomacy" is, it appears, the art of finding something positive about the country you are in, and something positive about the country you are from, and then finding a way to link the two together. Vide R Vishwanathan, India's Ambassador to Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. Consider this 'statement':
The skillset of Indian techies and the Latin American way of enjoying life is an ideal combination for a vibrant and productive work place and human resource environment, says the Indian envoy here. 'Indian outsourcing companies working 24/7 have developed a new business model of 12/12 here, splitting the work between the two time zones,' says R. Viswanathan, also India's ambassador to Argentina and Paraguay. Latin Americans in our companies develop multicultural skills and are inspired by the new mindset and confidence of the Indian nerds. Indians are inspired by the Latino art of enjoying life and having fun and go back happier and younger after visits here,' he said. 'This is contribution to human resource development of both our regions, preparing our youth for the knowledge society,' he said at an outsourcing conference here.
Um. Ah. Okay.
2:05 pm: So the ongoing exercise, that involves a bevy of top US officials landing up in Islamabad to smooth over the "difficulties" that have cropped up in US-Pakistan relations in recent times, seems to be working out just fine. Earlier today (see 10.17 am update), we brought you Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen, who on landing in Islamabad went against his 'dove' reputation on Pakistan, and accused the ISI of having ongoing links with the Haqqani network. Hours later, Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani pushes back, "strongly rejecting" the "negative propaganda" by the US army. We eagerly await the next stage in this ongoing process of rapprochement.
1: 30 pm: The Big B is worried about the Little B. (Given his recent track record, what parent wouldn't be?). Y! OMG has the story
1: 27 pm: This one is for the soccer fans among you: Manchester United tops the Forbes list of most valuable soccer teams. Big deal, did we hear you say? You are quite right -- given this is the seventh straight year MUFC has topped the list, we are not even sure why this item is in a News feed; must be a slow day. Anyway. Here's the complementary list: the world's highest paid soccer players. David Beckham -- surprise, surprise, no surprise! -- tops the list. Again.
1: 10 pm: Shifting our view overseas, we bring you the case of Darun Ravi, a Rutgers University student who has been indicated on 15 counts including invasion of privacy, bias intimidation by a grand jury in Middlesex County, New Jersey.
The story in brief: Ravi found out that his room-mate at Rutgers, Tyler Clementi, a freshman and talented violinist, was gay. In September 2010, Ravi filmed Clementi in the act of kissing another man, and posted it online. Clementi, 18, was so distraught he jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge, into the Hudson.
That's the surface view -- but at a subcutaneous level, it is a sad, tragic story with multiple layers. For those wanting to dig deeper into the complexities, we give you one of our favorite bloggers, Anna, of Sepia Mutiny, and a post she did back in October 2010.
1: 07 pm: Yes, Ganguly may play in the IPL's fourth season after all. Debutants Kochi Tuskers Kerala hinted that they could go for the former Kolkata Knight Riders' captain Sourav Ganguly if skipper Mahela Jayawardene has to return home to prepare for Sri Lanka's tour of England. It will be interesting to see the response on May 05, when Kochi hosts Kolkata...if the deal works out...
12: 48 pm: A battle royale brews at The Hindu, the venerable Chennai-based newspaper, as siblings N Ravi and N Ram go to war for control. Ravi has just fired off a letter to the directors, alleging a conspiracy by his brother to dump him and other employees. A significant portion of the letter focuses on the paper's coverage under Ram's stewardship. Quote:
"Apart from the basic unfairness of the removal, the move seeks to entrench several of the distortions that have crept into the editorial framework since 2003 when Ram was appointed Editor-in-Chief by stealth over the protests of four of us. Among the issues that I have raised with the other directors during the discussions in the Board and outside are: the unmerited coverage of certain political favourites on specific directions; excessive coverage of the activities of the left and some of its leaders; for reasons that are bound to emerge sooner rather than later, turning the newspaper into an apologist for A. Raja through the 2G scam coverage, remaining deafeningly silent on his resignation in the face of mounting evidence even when demanding the resignation of Suresh Kalmadi, Ashok Chavan and Yeddyurappa in similar circumstances; pronounced pro-China tilt, blacking out or downplaying any news that is less than complimentary to the Chinese Communist regime; and contrary to the practice in any mainline newspaper, the Editor-in-Chief indulging in an unceasing self-glorification campaign, publishing his own ribbon cutting pictures and reports of his activities and speeches with a regularity that would put corporate house journals to shame."
12: 27 pm: More Anna Hazare, this time from the opinions space: In the New York Times, Open magazine editor Manu Joseph frames the ongoing tug of war over the Lok Pal Bill as a battle between a political class united by their politics (and, though Manu doesn't mention this, their over-arching self-interest) versus a reformist class divided by its ideologies. And in the Wall Street Journal, veteran journalist Salil Tripathi examines the events of the last few weeks, and among other things points to a fundamental flaw in the comparison between Tahrir Square and Jantar Mantar: the former was a protest against an unelected, undemocratic, tyrannical government; the latter is a movement aimed to give sweeping powers to an unelected, undemocratic individual/position.
12:14 pm: Today's WikiLeaks revelation: American diplomats in India advised their bosses in Washington that they should cultivate Mamata Banerjee. By their reckoning, the Trinamool Congress leader isn't hostile to their interests, like the present CPM government has been.
The diplomats sent cables that many businessmen who hadn't forgiven Mamata for driving Tata Motors out of Singur are now warming up to her. The cables, accessed by The Hindu through WikiLeaks, also express doubts over whether Mamata can change from street fighter to chief minister-in-waiting: "Skepticism remains whether Banerjee's makeover truly represents a new product - cooler, more level-headed, and willing to accept outside advice - or simply the season's new political makeup. Consensus exists that she is conscientiously trying to transform her image from political maverick and firebrand to a woman ready, able and willing to lead India's fourth most populous state."
Through all this, one thing is certain: the Americans are convinced Mamata is going to win the West Bengal assembly elections, now in progress.
12:12 pm: A couple of months back, an NGO had in a media release pointed out that in India, approximately 60 cases of rape are registered every single day (and given a combination of factors -- the reluctance of victims to press charges, the reluctance of police to file charges, and such), that number is likely a gross underestimation of the actual numbers. Clearly, the dignity of women needs protecting -- and protected it shall be. Thus, per this story, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has identified the Rohan Sippy film Dum Maro Dum as the most urgent threat to the dignity of women country-wide, and a Goa MP has latched on to Soni's moonshine statement and threatens that the government will drag the film and its makers to court. What was that saying again? That we get the government we deserve? Right.
19 comments