Updated on Saturday
Saharanpur: As the Lokpal Bill failed to get Parliament’s nod, Rahul Gandhi on Friday said Congress will not rest till a strong law is passed and slammed the BJP, saying those who used to talk about India Shining defeated the proposed legislation.
“Those who used to talk about India Shining defeated a strong Lokpal,” Rahul told an election rally here.
He said he was of the view that the strongest Lokpal will be one with constitutional status.
“But they defeated it in Lok Sabha and when asked by …

Updated on Friday
Ever since 26/11, India has made massive purchases of communications intelligence equipment from secretive companies from India and abroad. In the absence of effective legal oversight, it threatens the democracy it was bought to defend.
In the summer of 1999, an officer at a Research and Analysis Wing communications station in western India flipped a switch, and helped change the course of the Kargil conflict. RAW’s equipment had picked up Pakistan’s army chief and later military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, speaking to his chief of staff, General Muhammad Aziz, from …

Updated on Friday
The positive experience of other countries should inform the FDI policy debate in India
The controversy over foreign direct investment in the retail sector has thrown Parliament into disarray.The chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh,West Bengal,Tamil Nadu and Bihar have vowed not to allow FDI in their respective states.But is their opposition based more on emotive grounds than the evidence that emerges from other countries
In reality,foreign multibrand retailers cannot completely replace kiranas (or mom-and-pop stores),but create more jobs and,crucially,are linked with revenue generation and overall economic development.As leaders,the chief ministers …

Updated on Thursday
Current trends that could muzzle a free Indian media are disquieting
The past two weeks have been a season of disquiet for the robust Indian media that has had a creditable record of helping to enforce accountability among public office holders by focussing on corruption.This disquiet arises from three developments that are unrelated but which have the same effect of threatening to constrict media freedom.
The first,and the one that is most directly related to media freedom,is the award of huge,unprecedented damages of Rs 100 crore against the Times Now …

Updated on Friday
J&K administration must stop covering for political failures by scapegoating the army
Omar Abdullah is the most fortunate of all chief ministers.Thanks to an enduring third-fourth generation friendship between the Abdullah dynasty and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty,he not only has direct access to 10 Janpath but also a warm friendship with Rahul Gandhi,the man whose wishes are commands for everyone in the Congress party.No chief minister in the country,no senior Congress leader,enjoys such unconditional support from the Congress high command.
For example,the prime minister and the home minister publicly supported Omar …