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Editorial

BJP is Just 25, but Lost Bhartiya Janata Party is discovering at its silver jubilee celebrations in cash rich Mumbai that it has lost its mooring along with power.  How would otherwise one explain when it blames ‘Congress culture’ for its parliamentarians accepting cash for asking questions or its General Secretary Sanjay Joshi forced to quit after a video allegedly showing him in bed with a woman?  “It is all because of Congress culture.

Analysis

Canada: Peace, Order and Good Government Gobind Thukral Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia. It has a grand motto, ‘peace, order and good governance’. It may not look magnificent and inspiring like its  big powerful neighbour , America’s  ‘life, liberty and pursuit of happiness’ , yet its tolerant, multi cultural society where a quarter million people from across the world migrate each year,  is more reassuring as civilized country with the no world power hang ups.

Comment

France, Statue of Liberty and the Sikh Turban M.S. Rahi FRANCE is a country of historic contradictions; and the French of volatile temperament, going from one extreme to another - from monarchy to republic and back. The French penchant for violence is also well known, as all life in France --- with barricades all around ---suddenly comes to stand still. At one time they fight for the republic, chanting slogans, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity': and then bring back the monarchy without any hesitation.

Badal Bids Good Bye to Democracy, Promotes Family Rule Birinder Dhaliwal AKALI DAL today means Parkash Singh Badal.  The way the regional party that had been nourished through hard struggle before and after independence, it was always believed to be more democratic in its functioning.  Badal is the first leader who has gradually emerged as the supreme leader, dictating to the lesser mortals in the party. In fact, never in the history of the Akali Dal, a family- Badal his son Sukhbir singh and his wife Surinder Kaur had total control.

Law and Justice

Daughters get Property Rights for the Real Joginder Singh Toor There is at last, change in the laws of succession, giving equal rights to daughters in ancestral/Joint Hindu family property, which hitherto was a mere illusion. People wrongly believed that daughters had equal rights in every kind of property of the father. The change has been made with effect from September 9, 2005.

Newsbag

11 MPs Expelled from India Parliament 7 Face Enquiries BJP stages walkout in Lok Sabha, alleges procedure not adopted and ends up with mud on its face Eleven Indian parliamentarians created history of sorts. They accepted without blinking eyelid cash for query. Parties across political spectrum joined to expel them. Only right wing Hindu party, Bhartiya Janata Party unsuccessfully got into procedural wrangling to save its five MPs and ends up with a mud on its face. It sought some legal protection to the punishment. These MP drawn from different political parties except the communists were exposed by a television channel accepting bribe.

Canada: Agenda for Elections January 2006 Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin has been listing his priorities that define the ideology of the Liberals, often otherwise clogged in rhetoric and jargon.  During these short 17 months, Martin provided corporate tax cuts. Canadians are among the lowest effective taxes (27.4%) on corporate income of all industrialised countries and  effective rates of taxation far lower than in America with  40%. as health care and education  cried for more funds, Paul Martin dished up a 35% decrease in tax rates for corporations--far more than the 21% break for families.

Virginia gets an Indian Secretary of Technology Governor-Elect Tim Kaine of Virginia has appointed Aneesh Chopra, a leader of the Indian American community and an active member of the USINPAC Leadership Committee, as the first Indian American Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Features

Hong Kong Round of WTO : The Modern  Shylocks Jyotika J. Thukral IT was a grand wrangling by any standard.  The rich and the famous gathered together along with the poor and not so poor in the sprawling city of Hong Kong, now part of communist China.  The issue was trade without barriers. Barriers are protested always. Is it not? This is why several thousands protestors struggled over five days to break the barriers and reach the venue of the conference where 140 trade ministers from as many countries were huddled together to sort the tangled web of political and trade relations.

Tsunami aid distributed unevenly between India's fishing and farming villages Ken Moritsugu Ken Moritsugu is a special correspondent for Knight Ridder. Until August of 2004, he was the national economics correspondent of the Washington Bureau. Before joining Knight Ridder, he was a staff reporter at Newsday, the St. Petersburg Times and The Japan Times in Tokyo. At Newsday, he was part of a reporting team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.

A Rush to Rebuild Leads to Wasted Effort Ken Moritsugu NAGAPATTINAM, India – Among aid workers in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the rush to build shelters after the December 2004 tsunami came to be known as the “Pongal hurry.” At the time, the flurry of construction seemed like the right thing to do. People desperately needed shelter, and, with donations pouring in, money was not an issue.

The Vicious Circle of Rent Seeking Professor Vinod Anand ONE of the emerging realities of Economics is the inclusion of the role of the State in its conventional framework, which brings us to the domains of what is termed as the New Political Economy. It clearly defines the role of the State in terms of rent-seeking and unproductive profit seeking activities. These activities, in fact, survive on their own and work against the smooth and economically efficient functioning of the economy.

Defence

Counter Terrorism: a Perspective Terrorism and insurgency are the unending battles India has been fighting since Independence.  Although it has taken deep roots the world over, in India, terrorism which began in the North East since independence, then spread to Punjab and continues to be a cause of concern in Jammu & Kashmir. Terrorism is essentially the product of faulted political, social and economic policies. There is then lack of a long term policy or a dedicated suitable force to deal with terrorism. S.P.Kapoor, a decorated soldier and retired Major General who has closely dealt with the problem from a military point of views discusses some concerns.

Art & Films

Amitabh Bachchan: From Leg Shaker to Money Spinner and to a great Entertainer Jyotika J. Thukral BE it the role of a don or a doting father or an authoritative cop or for that matter shaking a leg to the tune Kajra re along with Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan  can enact any role with élan. At 63 today, his popularity continues to soar and he has more producers and directors queuing up as many young actors of Bollywood starve for roles.

Culture

Origin of Punjabi Language, Literature and Culture Professor J.S. Grewal Language is not always a vehicle of communication and thought in the sub continent. It has been at the center of parochial and communal politics for long time. Region and religion have often clouded our vision about language and culture and our approach has neither been rational nor open. Eminent historian Professor J.S. Grewal who has been Vice Chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Study Shimla, discusses origin of Punjabi language, literature and culture in this four-part series.  This is the second part.

Diaspora Studies: Theory, Literature and Arts WHO is an exile? What constitutes diaspora and their writing or painting? It is different any way?  Is exile related to mere physical deportation to some alien lands or is exile an inner state of mind and has nothing to do with overseas migration. Can one be an exile in one's own home, among one's own people and culture? How do we describe the situation which is not peculiar to Punjabis alone, but is a world wide phenomenon? So  many universities across the world have special  departments devoted to diaspora literature and arts.  There is one at Amritsar, active and creative, both. Our Associate Editor, Dr. Jaspal Singh travelled to Amritsar, spent two  hectic days discussing and understanding this dilemma.

Homage

Remembering K.R.Narayanan Tributes to a Great Teacher S.N. Sahu K.R.Narayanan is now a part of the national sub consciousness for he so passionately toiled for the cause of the suffering people and is a shining example of service and sacrifice! Narayanan, who fought through out his life for the dignity and well being of human beings and who used his intellect for the cause of the suppressed shall  remain for ever a source of guidance and action for all those who believe in secular and democratic  ideals and fight  to preserve it  from the onslaught of the communal forces.

Poetry

Charu Jagat COME EVENING, CARRY ME AWAY

Letters

I just read the article on Punjab farmers.  Very powerful. Over a decade ago, I wrote a chapter on Punjab for a book edited by Francine Frankel, "Dominance Patterns in Indian Politics."  I used agricultural data that, as I remember it, showed that there were 180,000 fewer farms of 2 hectares or less in Punjab in 1990.

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