Is corruption truly an issue in India?
Kanimozhi and Kalmadi were welcomed as if they were freedom fighters emerging from jail. Getting bail does not mean that the cases against them have come to an end, or that they have been found innocent by the trial courts, says T V R Shenoy.

UP's Muslim parties don't talk of social justice
The urge of democratisation among the Muslim communities remains unaddressed by these emerging Muslim outfits. Do they wish to pursue the emotive identity politics of religious exclusivism which may degenerate into the politics of religious reaction, asks Mohammad Sajjad.

The foreign service has lost its Bhishma pitamaha
Ambassador A K Damodaran was the last link between the freedom struggle and Indian diplomacy, the last of those, who walked from a British prison to take on national responsibilities.

Syria vote: India falls for charms of 'green money'
India should have abstained from voting for the draft resolution backing an Arab League peace plan for Syria at the United Nations Security Council, opines former diplomat M K Bhadrakumar

India's MMRCA decision continues to create ripples
Major defence purchases should be a means of helping a nation achieve its strategic objectives. It's not readily evident what strategic objectives of India are being served by choosing Rafale over Typhoon, says Harsh V Pant.

Why Mumbai needs citizens contesting civic polls
Mumbai city, overcrowded, run down, filthy, gasping, is far too precious a city to continue to remain in the clutches of the professional politicians who owe nothing to themselves and have made local self-government a caricature of what was the ideal -- people governing themselves and their spaces, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.

Does General V K Singh know what he's up against?
'General Singh does not have the reputation of a greedy, grasping, man. Far from it, and his word along with the records should have carried weight with the government. Unfortunately, the pettiness of the ruling class has pushed the senior officer to a corner where not wanting to, he has had to approach the civilian courts as a last resort.'

How Indian women can head the household
If the Food Security Bill is enacted as per the draft, then women shall be considered the 'head of the household' and the potential implications are staggering, says T V R Shenoy.

Lieutenant, did you die in vain?
'You will not get the adulation from the government that a martyred soldier gets in the US. Your name will not be read out in any obituary reference in Parliament, as is done in the UK for all soldiers who fall in combat in the line of duty. Your name will not be etched on any national memorial because we do not have one!' Sarvar Bali salutes a fallen hero.

Why Krishna's visit to Lanka can't be termed 'successful'
S M Krishna's praise for the Sri Lankan government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission will diminish our credibility as an honest broker in the eyes of the Sri Lankan Tamils who are becoming increasingly bitter towards India, feels Satish Chandra.

Rushdie issue: Only in India can one get away with such farces!
Ashok Gehlot may very well pat himself for winning over a few Muslim votes, but he has simply provided the template for the next offended group: The past is often the prologue to the future, says Rohit Pradhan.

What the change of guard in the PMO means
The change of media advisor may be about the changing power equation in the PMO. The Congress party's view may once again get greater weightage in the government's decision-making processes than had been the case so far in UPA-II, says Neerja Chowdhury.

'Every case of helplessness is a result of a corrupt act'
'In our society... a corrupt man is not a social outcast. He is most of the time a hero, a leader,' says Supreme Court Judge Justice A K Ganguly.

23 years on, Kashmiri Pandits remain refugees in their own nation
The government of India has a moral responsibility for working towards a consensus for the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland, says B Raman

What price the civic elections?
Once civic elections are done with, the system discards the voter from the realm of self-governance, the essence of the grassroots democracy. The voter's vote, it appears, has been subverted by a system, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.

India-China: Protracted talks, contested sovereignties
In addition to the legal claims of territories, the political signals from Beijing also need to be deciphered and considered before a territorial dispute resolution can be made by India, says Srikanth Kondapalli.

To You Who Speak of Rushdie
'The chief minister and other ministers who speak of possible law and order problems that Rushdie's visit raises, you know little about governance and democracy and therefore you should explain exactly why you occupy those ministerships,' says Dilip D'Souza.

Rushdie brouhaha is another strike against Free Speech
When Truth dies along with it dies the 'Fabric of Trust' that holds nations and societies together. From raising dishonest questions over the Batla House encounter to raising false bogeys over the Rushdie visit, the Congress stands guilty of causing irreversible damage to that fabric of trust, says Shashi Shekhar.

Independent-minded editors are an endangered species: Ansari
The slow erosion of the institution of the editor in Indian media organisations is a reality. When media space and media products are treated solely in terms of revenue maximisation strategies, editors end up giving way to marketing departments, says Vice President M Hamid Ansari

Mayawati, Mulayam's caste-iron strategy
Uttar Pradesh, unlike almost any other Indian state, is ruled and run on caste. There are more than 60 castes in the state and all compete with each other for political patronage and benefits. In some ways, caste is a bigger player in the state than either religion or national issues, says Faisal Kidwai.

Kayani and his troops won't fall into Gilani's trap
Seema Mustafa believes that Pakistan Army chief Ashfaq Kayani would not march his troops into Islamabad for it would only play to the advantage of an unpopular Yousaf Raza Gilani's government.

India must offer the Maldives statehood within the Union
The Maldives will be the nucleus of future security order in the Indian Ocean. Patently the Maldivians will have to migrate before the portended watery grave. Given what could happen by 2100, it is imperative for India to act in good faith, and also with an eye on our national interest. India should offer Maldives statehood within our Union.

Why India needs a leader like Narendra Modi
'Let us start the debate in 2012 in favour of a directly elected executive with a civil society-based Electoral College as a check for a directly elected strong leader in the mould of a Narendra Modi with civil society as a check which serves the national interest far more than an indirectly selected, weak but acceptable prime minister vulnerable to pressure from regional parties and outside groups that may have propped him or her up,' argues Shashi Shekhar.

Army chief age row: Government must show sagacity, grace
'Befitting the government of a great nation, it must act suo moto to correct (NOT change) the chief's date of birth, thus setting right an anomaly, which an honourable soldier strongly feels impinges on his 'izzat.'

Is this what my country has come to?
'We have,' says Anvar Alikhan, 'proved right Winston Churchill, when he warned in 1947 that 'Power will go to rascals, rogues, freebooters... leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw... They will fight amongst themselves for power and will be lost in political squabbles.'