Opinions and Editorials

If it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined." The recent recusal by Justice Raveendran from the RIL-RNRL case reminds one of the stirring words of Justice Antonin Scalia.

The cabinet clearance of government divestment from some state-owned companies, announced following a cabinet meeting on Thursday, is a good start to what will hopefully be a winter in which UPA-II will finally start flying reformist colours.

Patriotism is an abstract concept and no one can measure it. However there is a crisp way to define it: anyone who puts the country's interest before one's own is a patriot. By this yardstick, Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha was a perfect fit for the title.

What is 1.3 billion divided by 289? That's the number of Indians per medical college, a number so high it is almost criminal.

You probably think, when you read this column, this chap (me, that is) has an easy job. See some TV, write about it — how tough is that? News TV doesn't exactly flood one with complex observations and nuanced thoughts, after all. Allow me to differ. This is a very tough job. Very.

It is with great sadness that I write in memory of Prabhash Joshi, a steadfast friend and valued colleague of many years.

Only a few months ago Gopi (everyone called him by that endearing verbal shorthand) and I were lunching at the India International Centre.

Listen again to Sachin Tendulkar, just after his 175 at Hyderabad: "It was one of my best innings... but in the end it was very disappointing." In that summation of an exceptional innings, he could be seen to be recalling an entire career in the service of Indian cricket.

There was uproar in Pakistan's political and media circles this week over the intended tabling of the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in Parliament on Monday.

The recently concluded Assembly elections in three states have put the focus back on the integrity of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).

The spectrum allotment saga is back where it always belonged — at the centre of controversy. The Central Vigilance Commission has raised questions about the manner in which the 2G telecom licenses bundled with spectrum were given away in early 2008, and the CBI has raided the telecom ministry offices and the premises of select beneficiaries.

The big financial scandal allegedly involving the former Jharkhand Chief Minister, Madhu Koda, has resulted in editorial comments by many papers.

In the multi-storeyed complex in the government colony I lived in during the late '70s, I would follow friends of mine in chanting a taunting poem to a sardarji on the ground floor.

It will be 12 days on Tuesday since the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra scored a surprisingly easy victory in the assembly elections and were assured of a third straight term in power.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has asked the CPI (Maoists) to "halt" armed operations and to come to talks.

What a difference twenty-five years makes. A quarter of a century ago, the television screen (black and white) was frozen in time. For three days, Doordarshan, the sole channel then, remained stationed at Teen Murti Bhavan where Indira Gandhi's body lay in state. The shehnai mourned in the background, while dignitaries and the public filed past.

If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Jammu and Kashmir was a fresh sentence in a changing conversation, here's something that renders one speechless: the Union home ministry has banned pre-paid cell-phone connections in the state.

She is helping American undergrads analyse English poetry, critique literary essays and write book reviews.

An article of stray, unconnected thoughts:
• President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Prize not for what he has achieved but for what it is hoped he will achieve. His election has ended Bush's imperial presidency and this has engendered the hope that America will once again work within the framework of multilateralism based on respect for national sovereignty.