September 27, the day of freedom: freedom from unwanted SMS and calls on your phones!   New Delhi: in the midst of a tense office presentation that may make or break your career, you suddenly get a call – ‘feeling lonely? Talk to Pooja, Neena and Aditi …’ or ‘answer the question is Salman Khan single or married and win dhamaka prizes’ etc! These are moments that make you wish the world, including yourself had never existed! But wait, there is hope yet! While the world and the nation debate issues of Himalayan proportions, a wave of liberation is going to hit the Indian consumer... 

2G scam accused Kanimozhi includes PM as defense witness: fresh tadka to Lokpal debate!       New Delhi: according to latest reports, DMK MP Kanimozhi has decided to put Prime Minister Manmohan Singh within the thorny embrace of the 2G spectrum scam by making him a defence witness in the scam trial. Kanimozhi said the PM had addressed the Parliament stating there was no loss to the exchequer following the allocation of spectrum licenses. Kanimozhi’s counsel, senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing before special CBI judge said ‘If the trial goes on, I would summon the Prime... 

Now not only Congress but other parties must make their position on Lokpal clear: cashing in on Anna wave must stop!   The Anna wave: a mouth watering sight for opposition! New Delhi: according to the latest reports, the central government has finally shown some decisiveness on the Lokpal issue. The government has now decided to convene an all-party meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Lokpal Bill and the impasse caused by Anna’s movement and all political parties have been invited to attend the meet scheduled for 3.30 pm on Wednesday. The decision may also be a wise one for... 

Alarm bells for Congress: congress MPs express support for Hazare and strong Lokpal Bill!     New Delhi: latest reports on a TV news channel mention a new development in the Anna Hazare movement that should sound an alarm for the Congress. After Hazare’s call to people to approach their MPs demanding that Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal Bill be passed in Parliament, the MPs now face a strong pressure at their doorsteps. Some of them such as Priya Dutt and Sanjay Nirupam are already expressing clear support for Hazare. When Priya Dutt met the 50-odd protestors raising pro-Anna slogans,... 

Try a case study on corruption: the case of the latest Andhra Pradesh turmoil! By Ratnakar Tripathy Hyderabad: a major reason why corruption in the country has been somewhat in check lately is quite simply this – the ruling power at any given moment of its choice may decide to chase down the opposition or rebellious figures with a long knife in hand – inquiries and raids, using the full armoury of the state such as the CBI etc. Next time round, when the ruler changes, it could be the other way round. That Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha may take turns at instituting inquiries against... 

Anna finds support within the parliament too: left, right and centre! New Delhi: while the large sections of intellectuals in India see Anna Hazare’s movement as a grave threat to Indian democracy, the political parties have decided to take a plunge. Even though intellectuals like to analyze socio-political movements in retrospect and use it as PhD material years or decades later, increasingly after the independence movement, they see spontaneous outbursts and uprisings as a nuisance and even a grave risk. The reason may be a creeping bureaucratization of the Indian intellectual who wants... 

Mumbai dabbawalas take off from work first time in 120 years to support Anna Hazare   Mumabi: known to be one of the most efficient organizations in the world, the dabbawalals of Mumbai decided to go off work in support of Anna Hazare today. According to reports in the Mumbai press, this is the first time in 120 years that the dabbawalas are not going to be able to deliver lunches to the Mumbai office goers.  This should give the powers that be an indication of the momentousness of Anna Hazare’s movement! Speaking at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, Sopan Laxman Mare, President of the... 

Sangay sworn in as the first PM of Tibetan government-in-exile with full political powers Dharmasala: Lobsang Sangay Harvard scholar, a scholar from Harvard has now been sworn in as the new Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, succeeding the Dalai Lama as the movement’s political leader. Over 5,000 Tibetans, including community leaders settled outside Tibet and India, braved heavy showers to witness the ceremony. Sangay was administered oath at a public function presided over by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. During his speech, the 76-year-old Dalai Lama expressed... 

Latest NASA pictures show alarming drop in groundwater in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand   Bhubaneshwar: according to a TV news report, the Ministry of Environment and Forests Secretary Tishyarakshit Chatterjee while expressing concern over the fast depleting groundwater resources in the country, said the Indo-Gangetic plain was losing about 10 feet groundwater every year. An alarming figure indeed! The latest NASA pictures suggest that the Indo-Gangetic plain, consisting of states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand is witnessing a very high rate of depletion of groundwater... 

‘Arre O Kaliya’! Sholay [1975] finds a late release in Bangladesh in September! Dhaka: one of the tragic fallouts of hostile or uneasy relation between India and its neighbours is that both Bengali and Punjabi cinemas have lost very large audiences across the border. While Bangla cinema has continued to chug along at slow pace, Punjabi cinema has perhaps been the greater casualty. Pakistan had banned the screening of Indian films after the 1965 border conflict. After Bangladesh gained independence in 1972, it extended the ban to all countries on the subcontinent, though this time the...