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Showing posts from May, 2014

Delhi Revisited

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Some places are always too special and close to your heart. The places with which you can associate yourself, where you have spent the most memorable times of your life. For me such a place is in the city of Delhi. Being a graduate from Delhi University I spent around three years of life in the lively city of Delhi and developed a deep attachment with it. The area I am talking about is the North Campus area. This is one place which is always sprawling with a huge student crowds, attracting young students from all over India and abroad. Visits to Delhi are frequent but a visit to Kamla Nagar was not possible during my previous visits due to time constraints. Now, I am sure whatever I will share today will make anyone who studied in any of the North Campus colleges nostalgic. It was last Tuesday that I went to Delhi to attend a friend's marriage and had arranged for a stay in Model Town. During my student days at SRCC I used to live in Kamla Nagar. Now, Kamla Nagar as most of

A party that fizzled out too fast

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Around two years ago began a revolution in the city of Delhi. The story behind the revolution is quite long and started with Anna Hazare a social worker who revolted against the government practices and demanded a Lokpal Bill (Ombdusman) to be passed by the parliament which was hanging since the last several decades. Anna's fast unto death pledge shook the nation and there came a storm of people from all walks of life in his support. Students, professionals, businessmen, retired government officials all stood by their beloved Anna against the corrupt government to showcase the strength of democracy. But Anna had one thing clear in his mind. That he won't enter politics and will be a social worker for the remaining of his life. Anna Hazare the the leader of India Against Corruption movement Every group has different sort of people with different ambitions and one was Mr. Kejriwal, a part of team Anna. Kejriwal, an ex civil servant left his lucrative career to work fo

Book Review: The Accidental Prime Minister

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Sanjaya Baru's, 'The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh', ringed quite a few bells in the political circles when it was launched amidst the Indian General Elections of 2014. It is the only book written by a high level official till date about his experience in the PMO. Now, Sanjaya Baru was PM Manmohan Singh's media advisor for four years from 2004-2008, the period when UPA-I was in power. The book provides an excellent account of the way the government functioned under the Congress party, the descriptions of Manmohan Singh as a politician, economist and finally as a human being makes one realise that how a right man was trapped in a wrong position burdened by excessive authority from the dynasty and party opponents from within. The book brought a political storm in the country questioning the timing and intent of release The publication of the book amid general elections was a controversial move. The Congress came out on all

Race to Resign - Nitish becomes the first one

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Barely 24 hours have passed since it became clear that the BJP will form the government at the centre with Narendra Modi as the PM and we get the first resignation from a CM. And it's not Narendra Modi who has resigned but his fierce rival and critic Mr. Nitish Kumar the CM of Bihar. This is the same man who tore away a 17 year old alliance with BJP exactly a year ago in June when the latter indicated Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate. Since Nitish Kumar's JD(U) & BJP formed the government in Bihar the state has seen massive development work with highest GDP growth rate in India for several years (owing to a small base). The prominent place that Nitish Kumar occupied was also due to tarnished image of the previous CM Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav who was tainted with corruption scandals and criminal cases against him and his key aides. The people of Bihar breathed in a fresh air after the JD(U)-BJP coalition came to power with rising levels of employment, decreasing cri

Abki Baar Modi Sarkaar!!

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The wait is finally over! After almost a year of hard, backbreaking campaign by the leaders of all political parties, the public invested their faith in the BJP lead government. The credits go to the charismatic Prime Ministerial candidate Mr. Narendra Modi, who made it possible for BJP to bounce back from the cusp of being extinct after the 2004 & 2009 defeats. The scale of victory has broken the records of past three decades with the BJP singlehandedly getting a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha and a huge majority when the list includes the pre-poll allies. Narendra Modi meeting his mother after BJP won the 2014 General Elections Congress has been reduced to tatters and has performed worst since independence getting fewer than 50 seats in a house of 543 seats. In five northern states BJP did a clean sweep and almost a clean sweep in UP with the NDA getting 73 out of 80 seats. The magnitude of victory has been so huge that even the top leadership din't expect

An Unfair Regulator

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With a population of more than 1.2 billion people who are responsible for choosing their leaders, elections in India is a huge event. It is the responsibility of the organizing bodies, government and the present opposition to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance to cast their vote in favour of their leader. The Indian General Elections 2014 is the biggest ever voting event that has been observed in the history of mankind. With more than 800 million voters and 543 constituencies, organizing such a large scale election event is not an easy task. The Election Commission of India is the organising body which has the responsibility to conduct free and fair elections throughout the country and the regulator is given immense powers that it can act upon in case there is violation of any rule or guideline. The real play of the Election Commission comes into form on the day the Model Code of Conduct come into application with the announcement of poll schedule. The model code o