The Constitution will survive another 600 years The first draft of India’s Constitution was prepared by the Constituent Assembly sixty years ago. As India heads into the second decade of the 21st Century, globalisation, the spread of terrorism, rapid economic growth and the winners and losers it has produced, and the individual’s liberty pose the…
“The Constitution is evolving constantly” As we near completion of sixty years of formation of the Indian Republic, it is crucial to review the workings of the Indian Constitution and analyse how the definitions, principles and guidelines enshrined in the Constitution have evolved in the present context. Former Attorney General for India Ashok H. Desai…
The common image of overcrowded Indian courts deficient in judges, resources and technology may soon be passé. The Government of India has embarked on an ambitious re-engineering programme spearheaded by the Department of Justice. Joint Secretary Ramesh Abhishek spoke at length about the good change coming in an interview with Publishing Director Chaitanya Kalbag. Besides…
Websites and portals across Asia are latching on to a new Reuters editorial product put together in a new way. It’s barely seven months old but already the Asia Online Report is carving a niche for itself. The service could point the way for the Reuters editorial product of the future. What is an online…
Fali S Nariman, 79, is one of India’s most respected lawyers and jurists. He is uniquely placed to examine the state of the Three Estates — the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary — having been a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1999 to 2005. Nariman has led from the front both in India…
Former Chief Justice of India, Justice PN Bhagwati, underlines the shortcomings in the arbitration system in India, in a discussion with Publishing Director Chaitanya Kalbag. He stresses the need to make arbitration cheap and speedy through the combined efforts of lawyers and arbitrators and moots legislation, if need be, in order to make it an…
(Chaitanya Kalbag has been a journalist, editor and manager for over 33 years. In his most recent assignment as Editor in Chief of Hindustan Times, India’s second-largest English newspaper, Kalbag headed a team of more than 700 journalists across eight editions. He was responsible for reinforcing professional standards and embedding strong standards of accountability and…
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh placed his seal of approval on Sunday on Lage Raho Munnabhai. In South Africa on a three-day trip long on history and symbolism, the prime minister said he was “heartened” to see that the latest Sanjay Dutt blockbuster “is a film about a young man’s discovery of the universal. and timeless…
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2005 in recognition of his “invaluable contribution towards social and political transformation through dialogue and tolerance”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced on Monday towards the end of a three-day visit to South Africa. Tutu, who will turn 75 on October 7, won the Nobel…
Islamabad’s response to request for cooperation on Mumbai blasts will test the commitment given in Havana Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday that Pakistan would have to prove that it was serious about joining hands with India in cracking down on terrorism, and the first test was the Mumbai train explosion findings. “How else…
Durban, September 30 PRIME MINISTER Manmohan Singh touched down in balmy weather in Durban on Saturday on his first visit to South Africa to honour a man who, 100 years ago, chose to stand up against an iniquitous system and set in motion events that have profoundly shaped history ever since. The Prime Minister boarded…
…says Bhagwati, feels it is a fallacy to think our farmers would be swamped by global competition; wants India to be ready for freer trade in farm sector They call economics a dismal science, but it need not be so when Dr Jagdish Bhagwati discusses it. The Columbia professor, who has long been a frontrunner…
Chaitanya Kalbag takes over as Editor-in-Chief of all editions of the Hindustan Times today. Kalbag brings with him extensive global experience in journalism. His last assignment was with Reuters where he was managing editor and head of editorial operations for Asia since 2000. He joined Reuters in 1983 and worked in several countries-including Hong Kong,…
India boasts some of the best strategic brains in the world. But have we come up with a national consensus on how to tackle terror? Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack…
Bhindranwale never threatened, just replied to it, says his son The traffic noise from the flyover outside the window was deafening and I could barely hear what Baljit Singh Brar was saying. Brar edits Jalandhar’s Aaj Di Awaz newspaper, aptly named, amid the din. “Where is Bhindranwale’s son?” I had to shout. He pointed at…
Last weekend, just before the first phase of voting in India’s 16th general election opened, a group of people gathered in Delhi for a “nation-building” meeting. For two days they thrashed and turned in their search for a better alternative to the choices facing the nation. They were exercised by the epic corruption and mis-governance,…
29 May 2001 Reuters News English (c) 2001 Reuters Limited HANOI, May 29 (Reuters) – Vietnam urged President George Bush on Tuesday to build on Bill Clinton’s work In normalising ties with Hanoi by sending a trade deal to Congress for ratification. Vice Foreign Minister Chu Tuan Cap told Reuters the historic market-opening pact signed…
18 March 2002 Reuters News English (c) 2002 Reuters Limited BANGKOK, March 18 (Reuters) – Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, embroiled in a row with media critics, promised on Monday to keep the press free and said threats to expel foreign journalists had been made by the police, not his government. Thaksin told Reuters in…
19 March 2002 Reuters News English (c) 2002 Reuters Limited BANGKOK, March 19 (Reuters) – The head of Thailand’s stock exchange, one of the best performers in Asia so far this year, said on Tuesday he expected market capitalisation to rise 50 percent thanks to new issues and higher share prices. Stock Exchange of Thailand…
20 March 2002 Reuters News English (c) 2002 Reuters Limited BANGKOK, March 20 (Reuters) – Thailand will see growth of at least three percent this year and more if the U.S. economy picks up faster than expected, Thai Finance Minister Somkid Jatusripitak forecast on Wednesday. Somkid told Reuters in an interview the government of Prime…
14 April 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited ISLAMABAD, April 14 (Reuters) – Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, said on Monday American policies were polarising the world between Muslims and non-Muslims, and creating a highly charged and potentially violent atmosphere. Criticising the use of force against Iraq, Interior…
15 April 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited ISLAMABAD, April 15 (Reuters) – Pakistan’s foreign minister on Tuesday warned India of massive retaliation if it tried to launch a pre-emptive strike on his country, arguing that Islamabad had a more advanced missile programme than New Delhi. Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri described as “irresponsible”…
27 May 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited SEOUL, May 27 (Reuters) – South Korea is encouraged by North Korea’s softer stance on talks about its nuclear ambitions and there are signs Pyongyang may be prepared to reach a deal, Seoul’s top foreign policy adviser told Reuters on Tuesday. Ban Ki-moon, who…
12 September 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited BEIJING, Sept 12 (Reuters) – China has not ruled out another big bailout of its ailing state-run banking sector but sees signs the banks have turned a corner and are on track to meet foreign competition, the country’s new banking regulator said on Friday.…
12 September 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited BEIJING, Sept 12 (Reuters) – China’s new banking regulator said on Friday foreign banks should begin making up lost ground and challenge local peers within months, dismissing concerns they are losing market share in a potentially highly lucrative market. Foreign banks now command a…
15 September 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited TAIPEI, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Taiwan will permit its banks to do business in China next year if mainland regulators grant the island some supervisory authority and allow banks to accept local currency deposits, Taiwan’s top policymaker on China said on Monday. A week after…
15 September 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited TAIPEI, Sept 15 (Reuters) – China is to blame for growing frustrations in Taiwan that have bubbled over into popular demands for the island to change its official name, a senior policymaker said on Monday. The official made clear the government had sympathy with a…
15 September 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited TAIPEI, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Taiwan still holds the upper hand against China in trade competition but will open direct links with the mainland only in stages because of security and economic risks, the island’s top policymaker on China said on Monday. Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman…
16 September 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited TAIPEI, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Douglas Paal, Washington’s unofficial ambassador to Taipei, must choose his words carefully as he navigates the treacherous shoals of politics across the Taiwan Strait. Yet on the subject of SARS his language is unusually blunt. Faced with a medical…
17 October 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited SEOUL, Oct 17 (Reuters) – South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun dismissed North Korea’s threat to prove it has a nuclear deterrent as pre-talks bluster on Friday and said Pyongyang was really after regime survival and aid rather than atomic weapons. In an interview at the…
9 December 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited BOMBAY, Dec 9 (Reuters) – India’s largest truck and bus maker Tata, riding a dramatic return to profits and fuelled by new global ambitions, expects to see explosive growth starting in 2006, a senior executive said on Tuesday. Ravi Kant, executive director of the commercial…
9 December 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited BOMBAY, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Hindalco Industries, a leading Indian maker of non-ferrous metals, aims to expand its aluminium and copper capacity through expansion and acquisitions to attain global reach, its managing director said on Tuesday. Hindalco is the flagship of India’s third-largest conglomerate by…
11 December 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, Dec 11 (Reuters) – India hopes to reduce its dependence on imported crude to half its requirement in seven years from 70 percent as a result of new domestic oil and gas discoveries, Oil Minister Ram Naik told Reuters on Thursday. “This…
9 January 2005 Reuters News English (c) 2005 Reuters Limited COLOMBO, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The only problem Sri Lanka’s intrepid garment makers faced after a giant tsunami hit two weeks ago was a slight rise in absenteeism at some of the hundreds of garment factories dotting the Indian Ocean island. “In one zone in…
8 January 2005 Reuters News English (c) 2005 Reuters Limited SAMMANTHURAI, Sri Lanka, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Sitting cross-legged on the cramped, bucking floor of a Black Hawk helicopter as it roars above central Sri Lanka’s pristine jungle and muddy rivers, aid has never seemed as complicated. A second U.S. Air Force Black Hawk…
7 January 2005 Reuters News English (c) 2005 Reuters Limited COLOMBO, Jan 7 (Reuters) – More than 30,000 Sri Lankans lost their lives when the tsunami hit their island the day after Christmas, but perversely the economy looks like it will gain from the destruction, analysts said on Friday. The Sri Lankan rupee has been…
5 January 2005 Reuters News English (c) 2005 Reuters Limited TANGALLA, Sri Lanka, Jan 5 (Reuters) – From a few hundred feet up, with the breakers curling lazily on mile after mile of yellow sand beneath blue skies, it is easy to see why this teardrop-shaped island was once called Serendip. But there was…
‘I have to follow capitalism’ It is like being thrown about in an ideological cocktail shaker. You get off a gleaming passenger jet and drive over a soaring expressway to the 227-year-old Writers’ Buildings in Kolkata to meet a very capitalist communist politician. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee says there is no place for…
We’re a long way from solving Britain’s race riddle Quite a few of my trips to London have been shadowed by death, or the portent of death. On September 11, 2001, I was about to board a non-stop flight to London from Singapore when my phone rang. My daughter in California said, “It looks like…
India’s economy is barrelling along at a growth rate of over 9 per cent, savings rates are up, investments are up, more jobs are being created, and inflation appears to be under control. So have we hit our stride? Have we chanced upon the right development model for the huge, tumultuous democracy that we are?…
India must construct an enlightened climate change policy ‘Food Prices set to rise as floods ruin crops’. ‘Prime Minister promises aid to flood victims’. Does that sound like a recent edition of the Hindustan Times? Wait a minute. These headlines are from a British newspaper. A week ago, I was walking through a huge tropical…
The Civil Services still remain a big draw Fresh out of South Africa, Mohandas Gandhi made a particularly strong speech in Benares in February. He was gloomy about Indians earning the right to self-governance. He said a British member of the “much-abused” Indian Civil Service (ICS) had asked him to put in a good word…
“UPON MY WORD: India’s prisons are stuck in a time warp Strange how time’s machine travels back and forth at warp speed. Two hundred and fifty-one years ago, Siraj-ud-Daulah demonstrated what an overcrowded prison can do to human beings with the Black Hole of Calcutta. “Figure to yourself, my friend, if possible, the situation of…
The old city is giving way to a new bright-eyed metropolis Thirty years ago, a dishevelled man leaned across and shouted at me in the smoke-filled, raucous Olympia bar on Calcutta’s Park Street: “Calcutta is forever!” Outside, Ambassador taxis were inching along the flooded street. The electricity would go the moment you hung up your…
The utter oddity of 21st century India still dancing to the tune of caste With this kind of rebellious example, how will fair play and righteousness prevail? Won’t the lower castes get out of hand? In this decadent age, common men follow the right paths out of fear if that were destroyed, where could we…
3 January 2005 Reuters News English (c) 2005 Reuters Limited COLOMBO, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s tsunami devastation has drawn a huge international aid response, but a geopolitical game of influence between India and the United States is playing not too subtly in the background, analysts said on Monday. “There is no innocence in…
21 June 2005 Reuters News English (c) 2005 Reuters Limited KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 (Reuters) – Malaysia declared victory on Tuesday in its internal campaign against Southeast Asia’s most feared Islamic militant group, but said there was room for improved U.S. cooperation in the global war on terror. “We have dismantled the JI basic structure,”…
21 June 2005 Reuters News English (c) 2005 Reuters Limited KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 (Reuters) – Malaysia proposed on Tuesday that foreign surveillance planes help to fight piracy in the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, in its clearest invitation for International assistance. Malaysia, along with neighbour Indonesia, has been cool…
18 May 2005 Reuters News English (c) 2005 Reuters Limited NEW DELHI, May 18 (Reuters) – India is looking to become a major oil products exporter while it aggressively chases foreign petroleum assets and sharply boosts imports of gas, the “fuel of the 21st Century”, its oil minister said on Wednesday. Mani Shankar Aiyar also…
Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the struggle within “We are all like a family and there is bound to be dissent in a democratic party.” The trouble with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 55, is he is too transparent. A rotund, dhoti-cad orator given to over- heated rhetoric, his misfortune is that he heads a party consisting in…
Senior Editor of this newspaper were about to sit down for their evening news-planning meeting when the smoke alarms started jangling. Within moments the first floor newsrooms filled with thick billowing smoke. Journalist for both the Hindustan Times and its sister Hindi newspaper, Hindustan, began to file out and down the stairs There was no…
Hindustan Times on Saturday was launched on June 3 last year. It was a unique product and an unqualified success. Unique, because no other newspaper published a bespoke Saturday edition. Unqualified, because readers have been lured to it in huge numbers, and have stayed for the weekend. HT on Saturday acknowledges the 21st-century urban Indian…
I experienced my epiphany about consumer media a couple of years ago on a Tokyo subway. When I lived in Japan in the mid-1990s, commuters would be bent earnestly over their little pulp paper backs or Manga comics. Now, just over a decade later, everyone’s fingers are flying over buttons on little machines that are…
New Age Guru peps up India story believers “When you were five years old, you were happy nearly all the time. Somebody had to make you unhappy Now you are 30-plus and have achieved your dreams, and you are unhappy all the time. Somebody has to make you happy” Delegates at the India Economic Summit…
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a group of senior Indian and South African businessmen on Monday that he was confident India can accelerate economic growth to the eight-to-ten per cent range. “We have been able to register an economic growth rate of eight per cent for four years in a row. Most analysts now believe…
Pretoria gets New Delhi’s support for Security Council seat The Leader of India and South Africa made a strategic trade off on Monday India decisively said it would support South Africa’s bid to occupy a permanent African seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council, and Pretoria in turn said it would support New Delhi’s…