Dharna outside 5-star hotel

By A Staff Reporter NEW DELHI, December 9: A group of workers of the Youth Congress (S), Yuva Janata and Yuva Lok Dal went on a day-long dharna today outside a proposed five-star hotel being financed by a private company. In a press release, the demonstra-tors alleged that the hotel was a “symbol of corruption” as…

Latest Philippine coup attempt reflects military disenchantment

Manila (Reuter) — The armed forces, the institution that has held the Philippines together over the past year, has emerged at war with itself after Thursday’s face-saving solution to an insurrection by 400 rebel soldiers, analysts said. Western diplomats and military experts said that Tuesday’s coup attempt and its compromise with a rump of 190…

Eyes on the Prize

India’s ex-prime minister says the nation needs a unified approach to fuel growth  LEFT: Supporters of India’s main opposition Congress party attend a protest against what they say is a rise in the prices of essential food items and fuel in Ahmedabad in June. RIGHT: India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh (blue turban) and main…

Of cabarets, and Nudity

OBSCENITY. Vulgar display. Indecent exposure. Suggestive gestures. We’ve been hearing a lot of such phrases, ever since the Cinematograph (Censorship) Act was passed in 1952. Even today, they look back with nostalgia to the days when there were kissing scenes in Hindi films, and Himansu Rai is an often-mentioned name.  Ever since 1952, the audience…

Fight over interest rate policy exposes India’s economic vulnerabilities 

Government pushes for monetary easing despite central bank doubts  While India swelters in record high June temperatures, senior officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government are sweating for another reason. The heat is coming from a debate over whether the country is poised for a V-shaped recovery after last November’s shock demonetization or if it…

Indian state census presents tough choices on illegal immigration 

NEW DELHI — India’s northeastern border state of Assam is waiting with trepidation for the results of a citizenship census that could have major political, sectarian and diplomatic consequences just months before the country’s next general election.  The National Register of Citizens, which will identify mostly Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh who are living in the…

Preface 

It was a pleasure to attend the Ninth Upendra Vajpeyi Memorial Lecture on April 1, 2016, delivered by Balmiki Prasad Singh, who is a respected administrator, scholar, author and thinker. Mr Singh, a former Governor of Sikkim, is familiar with the absence of peace – he was a senior official in Assam when the anti-foreigner…

Aftermath of disastrous gas leak: doctors say thousands of survivors may never fully recover 

Chaitanya Kalbag, one of Reuter’s New Delhi-based correspondents, has returned to Bhopal to assess the long-term effects of December’s poison gas leak on the city and its population. Kalbag, aged 28, and a former award-winning writer with India Today magazine, covered the original disaster story.  Hundreds of people stand outside the drab, white bungalow, clutching…

Following the trail of Marcos’ money 

Philippine investigators recover millions by seizing funds of ex-leader’s ‘cronies’  MANILA Former President Ferdinand Marcos-and his associates still control vast amounts of funds circulating in the country’s economy, the head of a government panel tracking the ousted leader’s “hidden wealth” said Sunday  Ramon Diaz, chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, said in an…