Today we celebrate the Earth Hour. It signifies humanity's resolve to do something for the planet. People are expected to switch lights off for an hour, reduce load on the power grid and, therefore, its impact on global warming. Every year, according to its promoters, more and more people are becoming a part of this global 'exercise'.
On September 30, Myanmar's President Thein Sein surprised many by stopping the construction of the $3.6 billion Myitsone hydroelectric project. In the midst of a transition towards democracy, the move can be seen as the final gambit to win the hearts and minds of his people, even though it has angered China.
When I called him in Riyadh on Tuesday night, the Arabian Warren Buffett, as the billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud is known, was quite definite in his views on allowing Saudi women to drive. Maureen Dowd writes.
It’s always said of the Palestinians and the Israelis that there are two parallel narratives. The same applies to Libya, and we continue to hear both, writes Ros Atkins.
The attitudinal indifference to tiger conservation has been witnessed repeatedly. The Madhya Pradesh government cleared the proposal for the expansion of NH 7, which cuts through the critical Kanha-Pench corridor, threatening tiger reserves, writes Prerna Singh Bindra.
On the Mount Rushmore of Indian nationalist iconography, we can expect to see, as we pass by in an aeroplane, Gandhi’s and Nehru’s faces carved into the stone. The third face is a blur — but the myopic likeness is of course Ambedkar’s. The fourth visage just may be Tagore’s, writes Amit Chaudhuri.
In 2002, 60,000 poor people were asked to identify the main hurdle to their advancement. Above even food or education. the number one need identified was to have a ‘voice’ of their own, writes KumKum Dasgupta.
Finland thinks third party mediation can solve Kashmir. Let’s talk about this over reindeer steak in Helsinki.
A caste-based census is not a good idea at present. But it can be debated rationally.
Narco-analysis and lie-detector tests are unscientific. They’re no substitute for proper evidence-gathering, writes
Ajai Sahni.
Food security is currently being much discussed in the context of the proposed National Food Security Bill. Food security is the consistent access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food so that the basic dietary needs are met to ensure an individual can lead a healthy life, writes Sujata Kelkar Shetty.
India, a Babel of tongues, will soon get a Museum of the Word. And not a moment too soon, writes Pratik Kanjilal.
Obama remains convinced that nuclear terrorism poses the most immediate global security threat and needs urgent initiatives. This makes N-terrorism his top priority, opening new vistas for strengthening the Indo-US partnership, writes Swaran Singh.
Krishna’s ongoing visit will be extremely important in this context of determining future bilateral ties — not according to international opinion, but according to how India and China minimise their differences and work on their commonalities, writes Ravni Thakur.
The ongoing Maoist insurgency is no more than a response to this ‘state of generalised exception’ and the political economy it is violently seeking to reconstitute, writes Pothik Ghosh.