As the Modi sarkar breaches the 200-day mark, an assessment of key ministries shows they have been sub-par in most areas.
Two hundred days may be an insignificant blink-and-miss moment for a government that is, if all goes well, all set to rule India for 1,826 days or so more. But there are two reasons this landmark should be noted. Even if blinded by the razzmatazz and photo-ops, today one can definitely see clearer than the fuzzy, feel-good vision one received unquestioningly 100 days ago. Then, flush with victory (and a hefty dose of caution!), no one within government was talking. That situation has improved somewhat. Also, one has a clearer understanding of how this government is shaping up.
A degree in engineering, which is often seen as the gateway to a good life for an average middle-class Indian, seems to be proving inadequate for Muslim youth who are secretly getting indoctrinated online for the global Jihadi cause.
The arrest of Bangalore-based engineer Mehdi Masroor Biswas for managing a pro-IS (Islamic State) Twitter handle has again busted the myth that it’s only uneducated, economically poor youth who choose the path of fundamentalist extremism.
The media has been abuzz with rumours about Bigg Boss 8 contestant Diandra Saores being pregnant with Gautam Gulati’s child. However, let us tell you that the all these reports are nothing but awfully cheap tactics to grab the attention of the masses.
A source from the sets of Bigg Boss 8 has exclusively revealed to INNLIVE that Diandra was taken to a hospital, but it was only for a routine checkup. “She has not been keeping well since quite a few days. It’s because of this she had to see a doctor. The pregnancy reports are disgusting and baseless.”
Even though Aamir Khan has no films under his belt, he has already rejected two big banner films. Is Aamir’s perfectionist image coming in the way of his career?
Aamir Khan is currently busy promoting his much-awaited film PK co-starring Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt and Boman Irani. Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, this flick is set to release next week. While Khan is likely to end this year on a high note with PK, next year the versatile actor will have no release. He won’t be doing Satyamev Jayate either.
In fact, he isn’t planning to direct a film as well. So its safe to say that Aamir will missing from the action in 2015.
The present regime sees value in ancient texts only for their supposed records of technological progress, and not for their soaring literary imagination.
Were there ever to be a grand literary prize for epics, few would argue that The Mahabharata would be shortlisted for it. Not just ancient literature - it would be well-nigh impossible to find anything in early, modern or contemporary literature from around the world that can match The Mahabharata for sheer imagination, ambition, risk-taking, characterisation, plot, psychology, description, philosophy or narrative complexity.
Since India Inc seems to be turning into a vociferous foe of PM Narendra Modi, he doesn’t need friends and followers anymore.
The masses will rally behind him to fight avaricious tycoons and their loquacious megaphones. For the past few weeks, a whispering campaign has been launched against the Modi government for its supposed failure to deliver on promises. In South Mumbai and Lutyens’ Delhi, the me-and-myself types are gathering in well-appointed drawing rooms or clubs of five-star hotels to grouch about Modi’s excessively centralised establishment.
After schmoozing with ministers and party officials for over six months, the pinstriped class has realised that the PM cares little about the coalition of the rich and famous, whose only aim is to get policy tailored as per their interests. If the tone and tenor of corporate discourse is any indication, Modi has to arm himself with instruments to counter the crusade soon to be launched by a section of the business world.
According to an interesting study, new and cheaper gossip magazines disappear faster than the costly ones like The Economist or Time.
The more recent the publication, the more likely it is to be casually taken away, may be by the patients.
"This study is possibly the first to explain the lack of up to date magazines in doctors' waiting rooms and to quantify their loss," said professor Bruce Arroll from University of Auckland.
The scary numbers of the October Index of Industrial Production (IIP), where the overall index was a negative 4.2 percent and consumer durables nosedived 35.2 percent, may have a different underlying story to tell. We need a better explanation simply because almost all the outward signs are one of optimism.
Why are consumers not buying and businesses not investing? What could be the reason for the sharp divergence between what we see all around (hope and expectations of political and economic change for the better) and what we get in the official numbers?
