BJP sets foreign policy agenda
If power flows from the barrel of the gun, the BJP manifesto would catapult India into the nuclear club. The chapter on security policy bluntly states that the party will "reevaluate the country's nuclear policy and exercise the option to induct nuclear weapons" if elected to form government. It's a line that is absent from the pledges made by the Congress and the United Front.
Lame-duck legislators
As the country enters the 21st century it should be under no illusion that legislative inactivism will be the order of the day in our populist democracy. It is also clear that the political elite have nurtured a large class of mediocrities who secure positions and favours through their proximity to power. They will continue to support the myth of the supremacy of Parliament.
Judging the judgments, with realism
Public glare and media hype about the Supreme Court tackling corruption, pollution and what have you have created an unbalanced picture of the institution as the very embodiment of virtue. A critical look at the judgments of the past year can not only lead to a more realistic assessment of the court but also assist in making its functioning more effective.
Much ado as usual
The fat is in the fire again, with American Ambassador Richard Celeste learning early on how words can be even more dangerous in India than elsewhere. For him, this may be no bad thing. His predecessors Frank Wisner and Thomas Pickering each had such a successful tenure because they recognised this.
Subverting ISO 9000
Far from being propelled by the competitive spirit to achieve excellence in quality standards, ISO 9000 movement in India was, unfortunately, an imposition from outside sources. European Union's insistence of ISO standards for trade with the developing world left no scope for choice among Indian companies.
Good sense breaks out
As Confucius might have said, when you bump into a hard object, it knocks some sense into you. The object in question is the market and the beneficiary Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL). To judge by the important business cleared by the MUL board last week, the long and self-defeating battles of the last year between the Government of India and Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) might never have happened.
