Asian Lite News Archive

Category: Comment is Free

  • Yoga is a way of life

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    By M.R. Narayan Swamy  RSS spokesman-turned-BJP leader Ram Madhav’s audacious outburst against Vice President Hamid Ansari is a good example of what all can go wrong if politicians try to usurp the ancient science of yoga. Never mind that Ram Madhav ended up apologising for having publicly pulled up Ansari for not turning up at…

  • How to conquer those sugar cravings

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    By Amar Chandel What can be almost as strong, if not even stronger than hunger pangs, is sugar craving. One goes almost berserk when it strikes and one is willing to throw all dietary discipline out of the window for the sake of those sweet treats. Take heart. There are a few simple little techniques…

  • Who’s afraid of Rahul Gandhi?

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    By Amulya Ganguli Nothing shows the weakness of the Narendra Modi government more than the fact that it gives the impression of having been spooked by Rahul Gandhi to strive for a pro-poor image. Hence, the directive to ministers to go around the country after the budget session to counter the perception that the government…

  • UN Raps UK Motor-mouth

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    “The Nazi media described people their masters wanted to eliminate as rats and cockroaches. This type of language is clearly inflammatory and unacceptable, especially in a national newspaper. The Sun’s editors took an editorial decision to publish this article, and – if it is found in breach of the law – should be held responsible along with…

  • India’s inevitable rise to the top

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    Bhim D. Asdhir writes on India’s rise top in world affairs in UK’s leading newspaper Asian Lite. India’s meteoric rise to global prominence is inevitable. Perhaps, US President Barack Obama, writing in Time Magazine on April 16, puts India’s and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to prominence best: “Today, he’s the leader of the world’s…

  • India must be wary of Tamil extremism in Lanka

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    By M.R. Narayan Swamy  As Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins to build a relationship with Sri Lanka’s new leadership, the one thing he needs to be wary of is the extremist Tamil position in the island nation. Modi made history by becoming the first Indian prime minister to visit Sri Lanka after 1987 when Rajiv…

  • A lot at stake in region and beyond

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    By Hardeep S.Puri and Omar El Okdah  In contemporary politics, the flow of historical forces cannot be understood by glimpsing a mere snapshot. The unprecedented fourth-term election of Benjamin Netanyahu is indeed a significant event in itself. He will now go down in Israeli history as the longest serving head of government. It is the…

  • Lanka verdict a slap for Tamil extremists

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    By M.R. Narayan Swamy  It may sound bizarre but the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka’s presidential battle is a huge slap for LTTE supporters who had called for an election boycott by Tamils. Hardcore supporters of the militarily vanquished Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the West wanted Tamils living in the…

  • Sidhu does shadow boxing

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    By Jaideep Sarin   In the last couple of months, the “time-tested” ruling alliance of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is feeling the strain, forcing senior leaders from both sides to step in and claim that all is well. Both sides have indulged in shadow-boxing in recent weeks with the centrepiece…

  • Dice loaded in favour of Kashmir Valley

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    By Vijay Kranti Probably the Jammu and Kashmir assembly in India is the only elected house in the world which keeps 24 of its seats vacant in the name of one of its erstwhile regions that is now disputed territory — what is known as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or PoK. That is why voters in the…

  • Modi on tour with no breathing space

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    By Ranjana Narayan and Aroonim Bhuyan   The Asean and East Asian summits drew leaders from as many as 18 countries to Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw, but the busiest leader seemed to be Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Infact, it is not over yet as he continues to be much sought after in Australia. In…

  • Modi shows he is boss

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     Amulya Ganguli writes about the total control of Modi  But for the drama of the Shiv Sena’s boycott of the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi’s expanded council of ministers, the occasion – the first expansion of his five-month-old government – passed off as a routine event. However, the fact that the Sena’s nominee, Anil Desai,…

  • Anand has a point to prove

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    By Veturi Srivatsa  Most people will know what Sachin Tendulkar is doing these days, not what Viswanathan Anand is doing to wrest the World Chess Championship from Norwegian Magnus Carlsen. Anand’s supporters feel he was not considered for Bharat Ratna because he is not a cricketer whereas Tendulkar is the darling of the elite as…

  • Is there any hope for Congress?

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    Amulya Ganguli writes on the future of Congress The Congress high command, which means the mother-and-son duo of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, is mistaken if it believes that the deep nervousness among Congressmen about the party’s bleak future can be dispelled by a token offer of resignation by the two and a clean chit for…

  • Tendulkar’s revelation got history

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    By Veturi Srivatsa Sachin Tendulkar hardly ever spoke out of turn as long as he played for India. He always measured his words without betraying his emotions. The only time he was rattled and decided to react was when Greg Chappell tried to tinker with his batting order during the 2007 World Cup. When Tendulkar…

  • Deed must match word

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    By C. Uday Bhaskar Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to the Siachen Glacier on the festive occasion of Diwali  to spend time with the Indian military units that are deployed at altitudes of 22,000 feet in what is often described as the highest battlefield in the world. From the base camp located…

  • Chinese trick with boundary

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    By Ranjit Singh Kalha  Recent transgressions by Chinese troops in the northern border areas of India and the protest note by the Chinese foreign office on road building in Arunachal Pradesh have again highlighted the fact that the Sino-Indian boundary issue remains to be settled, despite negotiations for nearly half a century. There is no…

  • President warms the Artic

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    By Ranjana Narayan   With the resource-rich Arctic region becoming the focus of heightened attention, President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to the two Nordic countries of Norway and Finland last week was a crucial step by India to assert its “willingness to have a strong presence in the Arctic Council and to work closely with” the eight…

  • Will Modi reform defence or bite the bullet?

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    By C. Uday Bhaskar  Former Indian Navy chief, Admiral D.K. Joshi, who had resigned in February this year after a number of accidents on naval platforms, has dwelt on the background to his unprecedented decision in an extended media interview and in the process shed much needed light on the deeply embedded institutional flaws that…

  • Modi will market Brand India

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    By Ranjana Narayan When Prime Minister Narendra Modi sits down to breakfast with the CEOs of top US companies Monday, he will be speaking to them with the knowledge and authority of a business honcho who knows what he wants and can possibly market India as an investment destination better than anyone else. The prime…

  • Modi’s defence of Muslims came too late?

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    By Amulya Ganguli  If some of the recent statements of the saffron netizens and the actions threatened by Hindutva outfits are noted, then it can seem that the hardliners have learnt nothing from the setbacks suffered by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent by-elections. Except for winning an assembly seat in West Bengal,…

  • Governance a blockbuster flop?

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    By Mayabhushan Nagavenkar The earnest clamour of zero tolerance to corruption has long dimmed. Promises of efficient delivery and good governance are confronted with U-turns on key issues. And silence greets the raucous din of conservative right-wing elements slowly taking grip in Goa. At the half-way mark of its five-year regime, Goa’s lacklustre Bharatiya Janata…

  • Israeli impunity and global helplessness

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    By K.P. Fabian  It is difficult, almost impossible, to envisage an early negotiated ceasefire to put an end to the unconscionable carnage in Gaza. US Secretary of State John Kerry has been working hard, but with his hands tied. President Obama has spoken more than once to Prime Minister Netanyahu on the need for a…

  • India must reflect Gandhi

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    By C Uday Bhaskar  After considerable vacillation that brought little credit to the world’s largest democracy, the Indian parliament is now set to discuss the violence and bloodshed in Gaza on Monday, July 21. Earlier, even as the spiral of violence continued, the Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said: “We have diplomatic ties with…

  • Gandhi & Gaza – By C Uday Bhaskar

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    C Uday Bhaskar says India’s parliament must reflect on Gandhi’s words  After considerable vacillation that brought little credit to the world’s largest democracy, the Indian parliament is now set to discuss the violence and bloodshed in Gaza on Monday, July 21. Earlier, even as the spiral of violence continued, the Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj…

  • India & Palestine issue

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    `India’s West Asia policy unlikely to see major change’ There could be a nuanced change in India’s West Asia policy under NDA rule but there will be no substantive change, former diplomats and analysts have said, as the Modi government prepares to debate, after initial reservation, the spurt in violence in Gaza in Parliament Monday…

  • Hindutva hawks and Modi India

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    Amulya Ganguli analysing the stance of Hindutva brigade during the Modi rule in Delhi. Modi is an “ideal swayamsevak” and the saffron zealots will, therefore, expect him to fulfil their dream of establishing a Hindu rashtra (nation) The latest reported observations of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) supremo, Ashok Singhal, echo what the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue,…

  • Modi sidestepping RSS with Amith Shah?

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    By Amulya Ganguli  When L.K. Advani was dragged kicking and screaming from the post of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president in 2005 under orders from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Delhi to Washington stated that the event “demonstrated the power of the RSS … and will likely…

  • Indian Marxists at a dead end

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    Half a century after the formation of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the curtains are descending on what the comrades once saw as the beginning of a Leftist transformation of India. In the years soon after the 1964 split in the undivided Communist Party led to the CPI-M’s birth, a senior leader of the…

  • Pakistan faces Iraq model crisis

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    C Uday Bhaskar, Distinguished Fellow, Society for Policy Studies, is analysing the new Iraqi crisis for Asian Lite, the international newspaper for the Asian diaspora. Can Pakistan be saved from going the Iraq way?  The Pakistan military launched Zarb-e-Azb, a major offensive operation against terror groups operating from North Waziristan Sunday, a week after the…

  • LET’S RUIN YOUR MOOD 

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    Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra So, I am standing at this party like one of those shabby relatives at a rich man’s wedding, a little out of place, a little awed by the opulence and wondering why I can’t be home reading a book when this half stranger, like most people in our lives, walks…

  • The changing role of states in India

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    By Amit Kapoor  Delhi at the moment is experiencing a whiff of fresh air with the Narendra Modi regime taking charge. What we see is the predominant idea of a shift in development model the country has seen over the last few decades. The focus is on the development of the states and rightfully so.…

  • We salute Sarika Jain, IAS

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    Jatindra Dash profiles differently-abled Odisha girl who clears civil service exam in first attempt It was sheer hard work and determination that paid off, says Odisha’s differently-abled Sarika Jain who cracked in her first attempt the coveted civil services examination. Jain developed polio in her right leg in 1985 when she was just two years old.…

  • Will Obama & Modi walk the talk?

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    By Arun Kumar  Will US President Barack Obama take Narendra Modi for a casual walk across the street to Bombay Club in the American capital for a ‘chai pe charcha’ on bilateral ties when the Indian prime minister comes calling in September? It may not be as wild a guess as it seems at first…

  • Taj Mahal: A victim of man and nature

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    India’s tourism icon and a symbol of earthly love, the 17th century white marble mausoleum, the Taj Mahal, is a victim of both nature and man. If the monument looks sick and pale to visitors, the reason is the dry and heavily polluted Yamuna that once formed an integral part of the Taj Mahal complex.…

  • Progress Report – Modi’s First Week

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    Prashant Sood says Modi drives the agenda as some ministers court controversies . While there have been some questions of Modi’s choice of ministers and portfolios – Smriti Irani getting human resource development and Jitendra Singh being appointed minister of state in prime minister’s office – the government has been dogged by controversies in its first…

  • Amulya Ganguli column- Rahul’s failures

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    Amulya Ganguli says Congress cannot paper over Rahul’s failures  Despite Sonia Gandhi’s advice to Congressmen to avoid “public acrimony”, rumbling of discontent about the party’s miserable performance in the recent elections have continued. It will be a mistake, however, if the party tries to brush aside the prevailing sense of helpless anger within the organization as an…

  • The India that Modi inherits

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    By Amit Kapoor  looks in to the problems facing Modi to build a new India India is looking forward to the tenure of its 14th Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, with the expectation that he would take the country out of the muddle and disorder that is driven by deeply ingrained thoughts and beliefs. We, as…

  • Service sector needs overhauling

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    Amit Chaudhery looks into India’s service industry and says it must strive for excellence Emerging amid liberalisation and increasing integration with the global economy, India’s service industry offers tremendous potential but also poses daunting challenges. Underdeveloped infrastructure, archaic policies, historical baggage of complex cultural mores and inadequate exposure to services standards are challenges that remain…

  • New Era in India – By Amulya Ganguli

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    Amulya Ganguli looks on Modi’s gestures. His willingness to make a new beginning. Asian Lite, top Asian newspaper for NRIs, will publish comments from Amulya regularly. Please keep watch If the expectations about Narendra Modi are tinged by a sense of mystery and excitement, the reason is not only that he is an outsider to the…

  • Amnesty seeks release of journalists

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    Amnesty International (AI) has asked the Myanmar authorities to release at least six journalists arrested this year and described as being prisoners of conscience.Those detained include a cameraman from Democratic Voice of Burma who has been sentenced to a year in prison for documenting a corruption case, four journalists and the editor of the weekly…

  • UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE

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    DAILY DOSE BY Bikram VohraThese past few days I have been invited to come on radio channels and give my opinion on Mr Modi’s victory. I have shied away from most of them because I really don’t know anything in depth enough to make an assessment and all I do know is that the Chief…

  • The Real Test Begins Now for NaMo

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     Ashok Tandon, former media advisor of AB Vajpayee, says Modi accomplished the impossible but the real test starts now   Narendra Modi has proved in letter and spirit what Napoleon Bonaparte said: “Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools… Victory belongs to the most persevering.” The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate has made…

  • Demise of Congress, caste politics

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    Saeed Naqvi analyses the Indian elections – Congress and caste parties decimates, whither Indian Muslims Over 180 million Indian Muslims will stand on the margin looking stunned and petrified, watching Narendra Modi and the BJP make history and colour the nation with saffron. What a predicament for the world’s second largest Muslim population which equals…