India in Foreign PRESS

The Indian Premier League continued to attract worldwide attention, with The Observer on Sunday noting that 8220;the IPL is difficult to ignore...

The Observer

The Indian Premier League continued to attract worldwide attention, with The Observer on Sunday noting that 8220;the IPL is difficult to ignore8221;, in its news feature titled 8216;India8217;s party of cheers, tears and beers8217;. It acknowledged the Indian media8217;s efforts to 8220;embed the tournament in the popular consciousness8221; through wide coverage, as well as the share of controversy it generated owing to the cheerleaders8217; jig, or Harbhajan8217;s slap. The latter episode, it says, feeds India8217;s dual passion of drama and cricket, and that the slap has merely 8220;added momentum to the IPL juggernaut8221;.

The New York Times

The New York Times in an article 8216;Debt collection done from India appeals to U.S. agencies8217;, focuses on the increasing incidence of outsourcing companies based in India doing debt collection for American agencies. It chronicles the activities of one such Gurgaon-based company, where young Indian professionals are 8220;chasing down late car payments, overdue credit card debt and lapsed installment loans8221; over the telephone. Earning around a quarter of what an American counterpart might have earned, the employees are trained in 8220;unexpected skills like sympathy8221; as well as taught to handle abuse.

The Economist

The Economist discusses the 8216;National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme8217; in 8216;Shovelling for their supper8217; on April 24, 2008, with the micro-picture of Jalor district in Rajasthan, where, it acknowledges, the scheme is 8220;especially well-run8221;. After mentioning India8217;s history of 8220;rotten public-works schemes8221;, it discusses how the present scheme of wage labour is benefiting India8217;s poorest and most marginalised, including Dalits. In Jalor, off-season employment is helping to stem rural migration. Success of the scheme is, however, uneven as poorer and more populous states like Bihar and Jharkhand are slow to adopt it.

The Sunday Times

A report in The Sunday Times sheds light on a practice becoming increasingly common among British tourists in India, where visitors to wildlife parks like the Gir Forest, are paying 100 pounds to watch endangered Asian lions kill tethered cattle. Such displays, called 8216;baitwalla shows8217;, organised by local tour operators, feed the 8220;lion and tiger mania8221; of the western tourists, it says. Using live cattle as bait for protected animals is prohibited under Indian law, but the fines are paltry and convictions are unheard of.