The writer is a veteran journalist.

May 09, 2000 00:00 IST
The cat is out of the bag. The intention of the BJP, which heads the coalition at the Centre, has become clearer. Law Minister Ram Jethmal...
Tue, May 09, 2000
April 25, 2000 00:00 IST
Who wants to solve the Kashmir problem? I ha-ve often wondered. Th-ere are three parties: India, Pakistan and the people in Jammu and Kash...
Tue, Apr 25, 2000
April 11, 2000 00:00 IST
British sensitivity takes time to percolate. When it does, there is anxiety to make amends. Retribution and atonement come into play. Prim...
Tue, Apr 11, 2000
March 28, 2000 00:00 IST
A wedding took me to Lahore a few days ago. This was my first visit to Pakistan after 14 months. The last time I was on Prime Minister Vaj...
Tue, Mar 28, 2000
March 14, 2000 00:00 IST
MARCH 13: In his bio-data, Human Reso-urces Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi lists ``belief in Hindutva'' as one of his qualificat...
Tue, Mar 14, 2000
February 29, 2000 00:00 IST
FEBRUARY 28: I have lately pursued two subjects: foreign investment in print media and the right to information. The government comes out ...
Tue, Feb 29, 2000
February 15, 2000 00:00 IST
This was my first visit to Orissa after the death of Biju Patnaik, who dominated the state politics for nearly three decades, first as chi...
Tue, Feb 15, 2000
February 01, 2000 00:00 IST
JANUARY 31: How would you describe the perennial tension between India and Pakistan?" a foreign journalist asked me the other day. I ...
Tue, Feb 01, 2000
January 04, 2000 00:00 IST
I can live with the release of three hardcore militants for so-me 160 innocent men, women and children. But I cannot st-omach the visit of...
Tue, Jan 04, 2000
December 21, 1999 00:00 IST
Military dictators tend to be simplistic in their approach. It is either bl-ack or white. There is no grey area for them. General Pervez M...
Tue, Dec 21, 1999
December 07, 1999 00:00 IST
Once again, the same old controversy is cropping up: whe-ther Akashvani and Doorda-rshan should be autonomous or not. I thought the matter...
Tue, Dec 07, 1999
December 07, 1999 00:00 IST
Once again, the same old controversy is cropping up: whe-ther Akashvani and Doorda-rshan should be autonomous or not. I thought the matter...
Tue, Dec 07, 1999
November 23, 1999 00:00 IST
Military coups are ugly. But they look uglier when it comes to vindictiveness. After pushing out a democratic government, General Pervez ...
Tue, Nov 23, 1999
November 10, 1999 00:00 IST
Downcast, unusually quiet, Sikander Bakht sat the whole day long on the treasury be-nches in the Rajya Sabha but no one in the BJP bother...
Wed, Nov 10, 1999
November 09, 1999 00:00 IST
Downcast, unusually quiet, Sikander Bakht sat the whole day long on thetreasury benches in the Rajya Sabha but no one in the BJP bothered...
Tue, Nov 09, 1999
October 26, 1999 00:00 IST
The place was the drab Circuit House in scenic Murree. It was one week after the takeover by General Zia-ul Haq on July 5, 1977. The depo...
Tue, Oct 26, 1999
October 12, 1999 00:00 IST
The BJP is lucky. The allies have given it a tally of 295. On its own, it has secured only 182. The figure is only one more than what the...
Tue, Oct 12, 1999
September 28, 1999 00:00 IST
I was sitting on a bench in a park in New Delhi the other day when a young man walked up to me and said: ``Your generation has cheated us...
Tue, Sep 28, 1999
August 31, 1999 00:00 IST
I would not have bothered a bit about the draft `Nuclear Doctrine' if it had not been released by the Prime Minister's secretary, Brijesh...
Tue, Aug 31, 1999
August 17, 1999 00:00 IST
When Fali S. Nariman, president of the Bar Association of India, said in a memorial lecture in New Delhi the other day that ``there has b...
Tue, Aug 17, 1999
August 03, 1999 00:00 IST
Sevagram conjures up all that is connected with Mahatma Gandhi. This run-down town was the venue of a conference last week to hark back t...
Tue, Aug 03, 1999
July 20, 1999 00:00 IST
The late Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-Lai was once asked what impact the French Revolution had made. He said it was too early to judge....
Tue, Jul 20, 1999
July 06, 1999 00:00 IST
It's difficult to understand why diplomatic efforts should be represented in pantomime. The editor of an English daily, owned by a leadin...
Tue, Jul 06, 1999
June 22, 1999 00:00 IST
Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta looked distraught and helpless when I met him at Guwahati a few days ago. His complaint was t...
Tue, Jun 22, 1999
June 08, 1999 00:00 IST
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee appeared willing to vacate Siachin and convert it into a no-man's land provided the Pakistanis would ...
Tue, Jun 08, 1999



