In Conversation

Anna Hazare's fast: a political alternative is a must

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 10:36:23 +0530

It would be wrong to presume that all those who participated, in whatever manner, in Anna Hazare's first and second fast for enactment of the Jan Lokpal Bill, have lost

Killed for nothing: CBI chargesheet in Shehla Masood murder case

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:55:39 +0530

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will file its chargesheet in the sensational Shehla Masood murder case in the special CBI court in Indore on Friday. Shehla an upwardly mobile

Naxal diary

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:16:42 +0530

Sukma district collector Alex Paul Memon was released by Naxal Guerrillas after 13 days of captivity near Tarmetla on May 3. Tarmetla is a small village deep inside the jungle.

Naxal Diary

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 05:20:10 +0530

April 24 We are outside the bungalow of Sukhma district collector Alex Paul Menon. This bungalow was previously a forest guest house and has been recently renovated. Construction work

Anna, Baba Ramdev… who next?

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 07:07:33 +0530

The Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh duo can not escape the consequences of lathi charging over one lakh peaceful protesters in the dead of the night. The strategy to question the integrity

Will Baba Ramdev revive Tahrir aspirations?

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 30 May 2011 11:25:10 +0530

Anna Hazare's India against Corruption campaign was mobilized on the internet. Not many gave it a chance. The pundits were skeptical about the reach of the internet. The basic flaw

Moral science mafia on the rampage in MP

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 23 May 2011 03:03:00 +0530

A classic story of how the ruling mafia (read government) creates propaganda tools in the form of media houses that run news papers and cable networks is unfolding in Bhopal

Who provides justice to the wronged in India?

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 16 May 2011 07:01:01 +0530

There is still a lot of dispute over how many people were killed and left with life long disabilities by the deadly Methyl Iso Cyanide leak from the Union Carbide

People of Pakistan have done no wrong

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 09 May 2011 06:17:00 +0530

The American discovery of the Abbottabad mansion from which Osama bin laden was directing his al-Qaeda operations for the past five-six years has brought Pakistan under the scanner in America's

Osama, US humanitarian aid and a helpless world

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 02 May 2011 08:04:06 +0530

"The people of Afghanistan, with their blood, courage and faith, are an inspiration to the cause of freedom everywhere" This was President Reagan in February 1985 to King Fahd of

Democracy, corruption and media

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 08:46:05 +0530

There is no better way to exercise complete control over an individual or an organisation than this one: systematically facilitate corruption by changing rules and form policy in an arbitrary

Who is Digvijaya Singh speaking for?

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 01:40:27 +0530

Thomas Fergusan of the University of Massachusetts says in his investment theory of politics that political parties are essentially political arms of business groups that finance elections. Political parties are

Anna Hazare, the guiding moral force against graft

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:37:55 +0530

The best possible compromise is achieved when both warring sides split the spoils amongst themselves equally. But make no mistake there is no such thing called a 50-50 revolution. Those

The dance of Gandhi's ghost at Jantar Mantar?

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 03:50:27 +0530

The sudden expression of respect for Anna Hazare by both the Congress and the BJP is rooted in fear. The spirit of Gandhi and his ways of protest have the

Oh Mohali: What a Reprieve!

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 06:32:50 +0530

The India -Pakistan world cup semifinal clash at Mohali could not have come at a better time for the ruling UPA government in India. It's been quite a while since

The conspiracy to fail India's battle against corruption

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:20:51 +0530

The discovery of an antidote to some future disease that has yet not shown signs of arrival is possible only in fiction. Already available remedies may neutralize some impact of

Betrayed, cheated, robbed and mugged

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 10:30:44 +0530

If the government hikes power tariff by faking losses and subsequently siphons off over Rs 1000 crore that is shown as subsidy provided to single light connection households and five

More power to Anna Hazare

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:53:09 +0530

The feeling of security that leads to inaction is slow poison. This false feeling is rooted in detachment. The spread of poison might not inflict pain on the detached but

Waiting for another Gandhi

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 07:28:40 +0530

From March 1, 2010 to February 28, 2011 around 4.42crore rural households demanded employment and volunteered to do unskilled manual work. The government of India obliged by providing 100 days

Victory best when opponent goes down fighting

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 06:37:39 +0530

Indian cricket captain M S Dhoni wants to win the world cup for Sachin Tendulkar. Some ex-international cricketers, including world cup winning Australian Captain Steve Waugh, have advised Dhoni and

Yes, it can happen

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:17:30 +0530

The ruling Indian elite are surviving on confusion created by noise generated over issues that touch the masses. The machinery that generates this noise is perfectly oiled. The gears in

Message from Egypt: Kill us or give us what we want

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:26:18 +0530

The spirit of revolution never dies. It lurks around in thoughts, inspiring the oppressed everywhere, all the time. Geographic boundaries can not hold it back. The date is at Tahrir

Every hungry stomach is a potential human bomb

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 04:45:06 +0530

The English dictionary defines a farmer as someone who operates a farm or cultivates land. Ownership of such land is inconsequential. If sixty-three years after independence this is how you

BJP's Pappu will have the last laugh

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:29:07 +0530

After ceding power Digvijay Singh rarely comes to the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. The one time he did come he badly embarrassed Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Chauhan had just

BJP sure of repeating Assembly success

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:07:25 +0530

Success in electoral politics is often fathered by circumstances of which psephologists and political pundits can make some sense only once the coronation is complete. From the BJP victory in

Congress and sycophancy

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:55:19 +0530

If the BJP denied tickets to around 25 per cent of its sitting MLAs for non performance in Madhya Pradesh how could the party claim that its performance was good

Shame on us

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:39:31 +0530

Extraordinary circumstances evoke extreme reactions and therefore need to be handled with extreme caution. The Mumbai terror strike brought death, devastation and shame. The vultures who wrote the script had

Remembering blast martyrs

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:52:30 +0530

After Agartala where? Home Minister Shivraj Patil in between changing his suits can consult an astrologer and try to find out. May be he is able to save some precious

Camaraderie

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:05:00 +0530

Three logs, about six, four and three feet in length lay flat on the ground. Coming from three directions the logs met at one point to produce a flame. A

Madhya Pradesh CM at the Sangh darbar

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:10:01 +0530

"Our panv panv vale bhaia from Madhya Pradesh has arrived. He was sent to run the state after Babu Lal Gaur was shown the door for chasing women on foot.

Where is the mind without fear?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:07:08 +0530

The feeling that nothing much can be done about the alarming frequency with which anti nationals are striking is slowly making home in our collective mind. The country is treading

Encounter of Gazi Baba

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 08 May 2007 03:52:08 +0530

The intercepted message read "V-2 Allah ko pyare ho gaye. Allah unhe jannat nasib kare." The usual Jaish bombast was missing and the voice was subdued. The man most

Marriage facts!

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 08:51:30 +0530

The Meena-Peter marriage in Jabalpur in January this year, I thought, should have made the RSS realize that marriage between two consenting adults,irrespective of their religion continues to be a

Free facts and sacred comment

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 03:19:23 +0530

Shoib Akhtar must be thanking his stars that he was not part of the failed Pakistani world cup campaign. One he can sit smug along with Asif telling him, "well

To Bijapur via Nandigram

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:07:00 +0530

In times of the great Indian economic boom Rs 1500 a month is still worth risking your life for. Of the fifty five people butchered by naxalites in Bijapur

Riot politics and Madhya Pradesh

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 07:19:27 +0530

Hindus' and 'Muslims' have come out in large numbers within striking distance of each other at least five times in different parts of Madhya Pradesh in the past fortnight. No

Half empty or half full?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:31:08 +0530

In matters of state there is no scope for the half-full version of the glass. And those who choose to look at it like this do so at their own

Burkini liberation and Shilpa Shetty

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:18:17 +0530

I don't know the religion of the model for Aheda Zanetti's burkini that has already been picked up by more than 9000 people in Australia. From the slides that are

Made in heaven

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 08:49:44 +0530

If you plan to marry in the near future and you happen to stay in Madhya Pradesh there is an addition to the must do list. Before you sit

One monkey doesn't start--or stop--a show.

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 11:06:21 +0530

The first time I got a case registered against me under the Indian Penal Code was in college. It was a cold Shimla morning and the provocation was hospitalization of

disturbing signs

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 03:53:57 +0530

Not every farmer caught in a debt trap will commit suicide. Ending a life full of misery could be a panacea for some but other options are also being explored.

Lingering fumes

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:02:57 +0530

The word paradox for its meaning evokes curiosity more than anything else. And the Bhopal Gas tragedy-the worst ever chemical disaster-explains it better than anything else. While the tragedy left

mentally challenged or mentally advantaged?

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 02:36:31 +0530

The realisation came when my colleague Manoj Sharma came gushing with excitement to office one day. He had finished doing a story on Ira who swam across the upper lake

With Uma Bharti in Bhopal...

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 02:12:36 +0530

Political obituaries unlike post death obits are written to deride at the subject. While the latter generally talks about the positive side of the person who is no longer available

Over to criminals and their lawyers

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 08:06:23 +0530

What do you do if you come to know that someone who killed a girl for refusing to serve him a drink has been set free for lack of

Netaji breathes his last again

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 06:51:49 +0530

For those of us born in free India the role played by the Indian National Army in influencing the British to leave the country depends upon the history books we

Seeking revenge in death

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 03:43:32 +0530

Call it whatever you may but the only way the farmers of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh can take their revenge from the system is by dying. And dying they

'Ye sabr ka baandh kab tootega'

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 03:37:59 +0530

It's not just about Mohammad Afzal. Perhaps it has more to do with the "Sabr ka baandh" that Atal Behari Vajpayee so eloquently talked about, post December 13, 2001. Vajpayee's

Road lesser taken

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 02:23:07 +0530

A police officer arresting someone trying to bribe him is a rarity. But it did happen in MP when a man accused of abetting the suicide of his daughter-in-law tried

Of death devastation and compensation

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 04:25:01 +0530

Financial assistance of Rs one lakh to the relatives of the dead and strict action against those responsible for the tragedy is what chief minister Babu Lal Gaur announced

Who killed kariya Devi?

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 07:40:13 +0530

Kariya Devi's exact age is not known. But she was estimated to be between 95 and 100 years the day she was carried, alive, by her four sons on to

Murder, probe and demands

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 06:21:44 +0530

The murder of professor HS Sabharwal in Ujjain on August 26 has led to various demands. Some genuine and some not so genuine. As the role of the ABVP--the student