The Parent

The ‘Zone of confusion’ is whether it should be a “Farmer's rights” or an “economic devolution’ or ‘start - stop’ the national advance. It seems our economist PM is following the last two choices echoing “his madam’s voice” by asking ten northern states to go slow on offering sops to SEZs.

What is good for the country economically need not be good politically as the latter is dependent on vote banks. Here sops are sops whether in cash or kind. Unfortunately, the UPA is headed by Congress political opportunists and is being ‘controlled’ by Marxist’s and ‘regulated’ by southern separatists.

>It is unable to follow a uniform policy in developing the nation as a whole. Bihar and Orissa are a case in point. The PM has not shown/expressed any anxiety over the uneven growth of states due to political constraints.

Free electricity to farmers of Punjab, AndhraPradesh and TamilNadu, the last extending it to two rupee a kilo of rice, free colour TV, free gas connections with gas stoves and to crown them all two acres of land to landless have been implemented.

These are not sops but philanthropy which is a form of paternalism! Control and regulated principles are needed to sustain the competitive economic zones world as rightly pointed out in your edit.

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Maloy Krinshna Dhar, an author of Open Secrets—India’s Intelligence Unveiled says “An average IB officer does not even know the difference between various explosive devices and triggering mechanism”. This puts a question mark on Indian intelligence. Indian intelligence tends to ascribe every disturbance to a particular section of society without any concrete evidence and according to Dhar this should not come as a surprise as both the IB and RSS share the same ideology.

Various issues are revealed in this work. As one reads the book, one feels insecure as in today’s world privacy has become an alien concept. Often in a number of cases “the unscrupulous officials of the IB, R&AW and the CBI blackmail the innocent citizens”.

The book exposes the various methods employed by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to maintain the status quo and to suppress all rebellions. Indira Gandhi used the IB to curb all opposition, and to spy on her elder daughter-in-law Maneka Gandhi.

The book exposes the involvement of the various political leaders in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The date chosen by the Hinduvta leaders for the destruction of Babri Masjid i.e. 6th Dec coincides with the destruction of Somanth Temple by Mahmud Gazani in 1025 A.D.



Dhar offers a powerful critique of Indian democracy and says “Some sort of free election alone does not make a country democratic. It is a bold book and one should read it to get an insight into the dirty, corrupt, and deceitful world of politics. We should know the fact. If you are interested to read complete book review, you can read here.

ONE thing that is clear straight up is that this collection of short stories by Jeffrey Archer is no Quiver Full of Arrows or Twelve Red Herrings. Cat O Nine Tales by Jeffrey Archer (Pan Books, Pages: 253, Price: Rs 270) is a collection of short stories, some of which will keep you entertained and others that will have you just flip through. All the stories are based the tales that were related to Jeffrey Archer while he was incarcerated in various prisons. The first story of the collection, though meant to grab your attention leaves you wondering what the whole point was.

Subsequent stories do manage to hold some water with the reader, like the story of the man who wanted to get rid of his wife and uses his knowledge water-borne disease as a means to finish. I guess what really comes in the way of every hardcore Jeffrey Archer fan is the fact that these stories are not a figment of his creative imagination but rather stories of the his inmates while serving at the prison. One thing is for sure, you are bound to learn a lot on the daily affairs of British prisons.

After Angulimala, the notorious murderer met Buddha. He was most repentant of all the sins he had committed. Even though he was sure people would not forgive him, he took the refuge and was ordained into the Shangha as bhikhus Ahimsaka.

King Pasenadi who was out with a battalion of soldiers hunting for the murderer Angulimala, was shocked and horrified to realize that the notorious murderer was non other than bhikkhus Ahimsaka.