End of the argument
For so long an abstraction. An inanimate motif that occupied the vital centre of an argument. An idea that lay orphaned outside history. A belief system that colonised the space between knowledge and memory. A heritage that the mind refused to accept. An antique curio in the marketplace of dead certainties.
So it's market-friendly feminism
Some weeks ago during the launch break at a seminar on women and the media in Mumbai, coversation turned to the rapid commercialisation of every aspect of Indian life. Someone frivolously predicted that International Women's Day this year would be sponsored by a major cosmetics firm. The response she got was somewhere between laughter and horrified disbelief.
Tough tasks ahead
Although he arrives in North Block labelled as Atal Behari Vajpayee's second best choice, Yashwant Sinha can take heart from the generally positive corporate and stock market reaction to his appointment as Finance Minister. It is as clear a signal as business and industry could hope for from the new Prime Minister of his intention not to allow the hardline swadeshi lobby free play in the economy.
In the name of Jaya
Union Law Minister M. Thambidurai could not have made a less promising and more unbecoming start than with his formulation about the "foisted" cases against AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha. His very first public pronouncement after being entrusted with the key portfolio has been to characterise the corruption cases now being heard in courts against the former Chief Minister as politically motivated and concocted by the DMK Government of Tamil Nadu.
The persistence of memory
Every time our nation shudders, the shock waves awaken the dormant Indian psyche. Questions are asked and answers sought, and then everything becomes as quiet as the slumbering volcano. It is merely dormant, though, ready to awaken again. It will only take another eruption to focus the attention of that psyche again.
Product patents help industry
History of the Japanese economy vividly illustrates that the patent system has been playing vital roles for the development of the Japanese economy, in particular, for the remarkable progress of the Japanese industry in the 20th century, through, for example, impartial treatment of Japanese and foreign residents.
