Opinions and Editorials

The latest issue of Organiser carried an interview with BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu where he says that if inflation can be contained in Europe, "why can't the UPA government control it in India".

Much like the UPA government in India, Turkey's AKP (Justice and Development Party) led government is facing a dire battle for survival.

As they took pot-shots at each other on national security on Tuesday, the two American presidential candidates, the Democrat Barack Obama and the Republican John McCain, agreed on one important issue - the urgency of rejuvenating the faltering war against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

It's a 25 crore rupee question (thank you, A.B. Bardhan) as this goes to print, whether Manmohan Singh or L.K. Advani will claim victory after the July 22 trust vote.

The Taj Mahal's flawless beauty is known for attracting lovebirds from all over the world. For my first date, I had no choice but to make do with Humayun's tomb, for I live in the capital. However, I didn't mind. With a spring in my step and a song in my heart I was there an hour before the appointed time. There was no better way to utilise my time than taking a closer look at the grand monument.

Some parents have a strange habit of clicking pictures of their babies in the buff. With the Internet and blogging, a few parents are also putting up those pictures for all and sundry to see. Either there should be legislation against allowing parents to click naked pictures of their kids, or some sort of age of consent where kids have a say in whether the world should see those pictures.

Kanjibhai Sagar, a migrant from Jamnagar district in Gujarat is facing difficult times. He has seen his earnings decline from Rs 7,000 a month in 2005 to Rs 5,000 today. He works in India's most thriving spot for the diamond trade: Surat. But things are hardly sparkling these days. The slump has forced more than 100,000 workers to return to Saurashtra in the last two years.

The push has come to shove. The political crisis that appeared imminent last fortnight could have been averted if the UPA government had refrained from pushing ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, an issue that was not part of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) on the basis of which the Left parties extended outside support.

The contours of the immediate crisis (or hectic political parleying) should become clear whenever the "trust vote" takes place - or at least somewhat.

Narco-analysis is fast becoming the prime investigative tool for the police and CBI in a number of important cases - at a rough estimate, about a dozen narco-analysis tests have been conducted on the various dramatis personae in the Arushi murder case.

• What is the current political situation in Bangladesh? Following the imposition of Emergency by President Iajuddin Ahmed on January 11, 2007, a caretaker government led by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former Central Bank Governor, has taken over the administration.

"To scare the monkey", an old Chinese proverb says, "you must kill the chicken". That might be one of the reasons behind the summary execution last week of two Uighur Islamic separatists from the Xinjiang province in the country's far western frontier.

When Herbert Baker designed Parliament House, he paid especially close attention to the design of the speaker's chair.

On national networks, TV anchors and editors Deepak Chaurasia and Ashutosh are clear: the media have nothing to apologise about in the Rajesh Talwar case. Now that the doctor, once accused of murdering his daughter, is out on bail for lack of evidence, you'd imagine that he's trying to pick up the pieces of his life and get on with it. No such luck.

Some years ago, in an essay I published in a Delhi magazine, I argued that although there were very many bigots in the BJP, it was mistaken to see it as 'fascist'.

I visited Kashmir 46 years ago, then as an army officer's daughter. We were part of a large army convoy, traversing the snow-clad mountains and a series of tunnels. I have a faint memory of an ambience pregnant with attrition and armour-laden apprehension, as humongous camouflaged trucks wound their way into the valley of fear.

Amdist the great excitement about the July 22 confidence vote, escalating polemics between the Congress and the comrades and the worldwide publicity to the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA that Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee had adamantly held to be "confidential", one important and instructive facet of the high drama and low comedy has not received the attention it deserves.

The girl wears a dress so mini, she couldn't sit on it; a smile so evil it stretches into a grimace; her hand carries a black belt, her words the menace of fearful retribution; "Ok, you dumb, f..,ass..., are you ready?" The two men in front of her eye the belt with sado-masochistic pleasure. "Yes, yes...

My sister is a ragpicker in New Jersey. Every evening she sorts the family garbage into designated bins: biodegradables in the green bin - picked up by the municipal truck on Wednesdays, recycled glass in the blue bin, for Thursdays, and all other items for Fridays. After 12 years of the routine she is a natural Greenie. Her counterparts in Delhi have a harder task.

There is a silver lining in the murky clouds that are hovering over the political horizon as the Congress struggles to prevent the premature demise of the UPA government. The former foe-turned-friend of the incumbent regime, the voluble general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, has spilt the beans, or well, almost.