Curious Indian - An Indian view on history, current affairs and politics

16 May 2014 – Day of Hope or Despair

: Domestic: Written by CIAdmin : 05-11-2014

16 May 2014 is likely to be a watershed day in the modern History of India. This is the day that will decide the fate and future of not only the major political parties in India but also of a lot of current and potential political leaders of the nation. The long drawn out election period has seen many an intense battles among prominent political leaders as also the emergence of a new political force and its leaders in the form of Aam Admi Party (AAP). The rhetoric has ranged from the sublime to absolutely low down gutter induced expressions …continue reading

The Modi Impact

: Domestic: Written by CIAdmin : 05-08-2014

The war of words between the Congress and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is going from bad to worse. Other regional parties like SP, TMC, BSP, AIDMK and National Conference too have joined the Congress in the BJP, read Modi, bashing act. It is BJP versus all others since not only Congress but nearly every political party in the country has only one aim – how to keep Mr. Modi away from New Delhi. Day in and day out one can see the tired and crest fallen faces of the Congress leaders on various news channels trying to put Mr. Modi …continue reading

Assam Riots – A Clear Case of Misrepresentation & Vote Bank Politics over State and National Interests

: Domestic: Written by CIAdmin : 05-06-2014

The state of Assam is on the boil once again. The politicians are squabbling once again and playing the ‘blame each other’ again. Congress was quick to place the blame on Mr. Modi and BJP for their poll campaign speeches which they termed as provocative without trying to pin point the real cause of what instigated the riots. Mr. Gogoi, the Congress chief Minister who has been in power for over 14 years at a stretch, has failed once again since he did not anticipate that trouble could occur in the present highly charged environment during the election season. In …continue reading

Voting decisions. Why and How?

: Society: Written by NitinMishra : 05-05-2014

This is our chance! Let’s Vote! Elections are just days away and everyone is itching for their chance to vote. Those who are still ambivalent towards it need to understand that India’s democratic rights were not a given but were earned after years of a persistent struggle for freedom and rights. There are still nations in the world who do not have a democracy and are oppressed without a voice. We are blessed that we at least have a voice, which is our vote and our voice must be heard and loud this time around. In the early 2000’s, most …continue reading

Social Media Khaps

: Society: Written by CIAdmin : 04-27-2014

If Calvin the comic character could affix a halo to the back of his head and say this ‘the season to be jolly’, then many of us who are getting ink on our fingers should proclaim that tis the season to be politically pithy. We raise banners and call ourselves nationalists without knowing what our MPs and MLAs are doing in our area. We claim ourselves politically astute because our values tend to match with those of political parties (I have no idea how that happens). We again, care for our country and want a certain political party to come …continue reading

TsuNamo sweeps Varanasi

: Domestic: Written by Hashmi Shams Tabreed : 04-24-2014

Even the most die hard of Modi supporters wouldn’t have anticipated the kind of response Modi received from Varanasi on his nomination day today. it was a stunning and awe inspiring show of support from the city for BJP’s PM nominee Narendra Modi. Just a day back, media’s blue eyed boy, Arvind Kejriwal filed his nomination from this seat. In a show of strength, his party AAP, managed to converge a lot of its volunteers from different parts of country, mostly Delhi NCR and U.P for the road show that preceded his nomination. Around 5-10 thousand people, mostly AAP volunteers from outside, local Muslims and …continue reading

Not 2002, 2001 shapes my view on Modi

: Domestic: Written by Hashmi Shams Tabreed : 04-19-2014

I was an intern back then. Having done my diploma in journalism and mass communication, i was working with a senior journalist to learn the tricks of on-ground reporting and developing contacts.My mentor was a veteran journalist, aged about 52 years. Everyone used to call him Haji sahab. He had gone on Haj with family twice and on both occasions used his contacts in Haj committee to get Haj subsidy. He was a smart fellow. Always getting what he wanted just by approaching one of his numerous contacts. Haji sahab was living in Gaziabad with his parents and two sons, …continue reading

Pakistan’s mysterious love for AAP

: International: Written by NitinMishra : 03-15-2014

Author: Aamna Shahwani [Aamna is a Baloch analyst and human rights activist and by profession she is a cryptographer. This article was originally published in Afganistan Times.Original article: http://www.afghanistantimes.af/opinion_details.php?oid=60] When electoral preparation is going on in full swing for upcoming general elections in both Afghanistan and India, the cadres are busy with placards and posters; the covert game of Pakistani Political Agents is underway in both these nations. Analyzing the recent developments will uncover the naked faces of the Pakistani political games going on in India that the innocent public of India will find hurting. Pakistan, whose birth was blessed by religious …continue reading

Who is the real liberal?

: Society: Written by NitinMishra : 02-16-2014

The recent controversy over Penguin India’s decision to withdraw and pulp Wendy Doniger’s book “The Hindus: An alternate history” has once again sparked the debate about freedom of expression issues in India. The decision to withdraw the book was taken by publisher following a legal battle with a group of Hindus led by President of Sanatan Dharma foundation, Dinanath Batra. The objection raised by this group relates not only to the factual inaccuracies in the content which for the most part shows shoddy research and poor translation of Hindu texts on the authors part but more importantly the author uses outlandish …continue reading

ASACUSA experiment produces first beam of antihydrogen atoms at CERN

: Science and Technology: Written by NitinMishra : 01-26-2014

The ASACUSA experiment at CERN has succeeded for the first time in producing a beam of antihydrogen atoms. In a paper published in Nature Communications, the ASACUSA collaboration reports the unambiguous detection of 80 antihydrogen atoms 2.7 meters downstream of their production, where the influence of the magnetic fields used initially to produce the antiatoms is small. This result is a significant step towards precise hyperfine spectroscopy of antihydrogen atoms. The feat will help them test whether these atoms differ from their matter counterparts, which could give scientists clues about how our universe formed. Primordial antimatter has so far never …continue reading

Story of a Narendra Modi rally

: Domestic: Written by Hashmi Shams Tabreed : 01-23-2014

Manbela, Gorakhpur: If you’re afraid of crowded places, you should avoid Modi rallies. I’ve covered Modi’s Delhi and U.P rallies. The crowd has consistently been above 3-4 Lakhs. I’m sure congress will be willing to pay a fortune to get such an audience for Rahul’s rally. The overwhelming public participation in a state where BJP was lagging at the fourth place is a testimony enough of a strong Modi wave. Till six months back Mulayam, Mayawati and a host of other UP leaders were dismissing Modi citing the complexities of UP electorate. Their arrogance has given way to panic as ground reports indicate a …continue reading

No more donations ! Stop funding the Anarchists

: Domestic: Written by NitinMishra : 01-20-2014

[This article has been submitted by Manjunath P from Bangalore. He was active in organising meetings in Freedom Park during Anna movement. An early member of AAP and part of AAP’s social media campaign during Delhi elections. Disillusioned with AAP government he now runs an awareness campaign to highlight perils of donating to AAP] The recent interview with Barkha Datt presented a new side of Arvind Kejriwal. The tone and tenor of the so called humble leader of common man had changed. The attitude reeked of arrogance so typical of men in power. Kejriwal’s claims of great achievements in Delhi bore uncanny resemblance …continue reading

I see hope in Narendra Modi

: Domestic: Written by NitinMishra : 01-19-2014

[This article has been submitted by Praveen Koul, a Kashmiri Pandit. Born in Budgam, his family moved to a refugee camp in Jammu, he grew up listening to stories of his home in Budgam and the atrocities that forced his family to flee. He hopes of going back to his ancestral home one day] Today, twenty four years after the day mass exodus of Kashmiri pandits began in valley, a delegation of Pandits met Narendra Modi with memorandum. It said,“Challenge to the idea of Indian Nation state continues in Kashmir in one or the other form. Extirpation of entire Kashmiri …continue reading

The Monk who sold aam aadmi’s ferrari

: Domestic: Written by NitinMishra : 01-11-2014

There is no doubt upcoming 2014 parliamentary election is going to be a historic one. For the first time positive agendas like development and effective governance are dominating the political discourse. Anti corruption agenda has got a major fillip with entry of AAP. Countless elections were fought with corruption as the main electoral plank. Rise of VP Singh post Bofors scandal is still the best example of electoral reversals driven solely by anti corruption agenda. Despite the cynicism prevalent since then, Arvind Kejriwal has successfully managed to rake this issue up once more. There are stark similarities between both situations. The anti corruption campaign led by VP …continue reading

Dear Arvind, I want my money back

: Domestic: Written by NitinMishra : 01-09-2014

[This article has been submitted by Manjunath P from Bangalore. He was active in organising meetings in Freedom Park during Anna movement. An early member of AAP and part of AAP’s social media campaign during Delhi elections.] Frankly, I had never heard of Arvind Kejriwal till Anna’s Janlokpal movement. The movement had touched the simmering anger against corruption and the dishonest politicians. I still remember how we had switched off the lights in our building for an hour to support Anna. Most of the buildings in our locality had done the same. Round the clock media coverage on people’s participation acted as a booster …continue reading

Kerala: BJP’s southern conquest

: Domestic: Written by NitinMishra : 01-08-2014

While the overzealous media is busy propping up AAP in an apparent attempt to pit Kejriwal’s party against BJP in order to contain Modi, BJP is busy not only consolidating it’s strongholds but breaking new grounds. The glee with which congress is willing to endorse Kejriwal betrays the animosity displayed by AAP towards congress and hints towards a tacit understanding between both. If the assumption is that such a plan would succeed against Modi then probably they fail to recognize the genius of Modi. He is not just a master strategist and a skilled orator but a genius in organizational skills. It’s no …continue reading

Behold the mighty INS Vikramaditya arrives

: Defence: Written by NitinMishra : 01-06-2014

As one of the military leaders of the Asia-Pacific Region, India possesses a significant military capability, one of the main components of which is the country’s naval forces. Today, India shows all the signs of being a first- class naval power with a nuclear submarine fleet and carrier battle groups. The Indian Navy surely has been strengthened by the commissioning of its new aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya. Coming close on heels of another significant achievement – commissioning of the nuclear reactor of the Arihant. India’s first indigenous nuclear powered submarine, going critical and the Vikramaditya is being seen as …continue reading

The last refuge

: Society: Written by NitinMishra :

In 1774, Samuel Johnson made this famous statement, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” He wasn’t talking about patriotism in general but show of false patriotism. He was a proud British patriot and in those glory days of the mighty British empire, Patriotism was the best rallying point to get people behind one’s cause. It still is in most countries. How about India? Is patriotic fervor the best way to get popular support in India? You’d be sorely mistaken if you thought yes. In this age of single agenda parties mushrooming on regional and national scene, except BJP and its affiliates, it’s …continue reading

Beware NETRA is looking

: Science and Technology: Written by NitinMishra : 01-04-2014

Not many know that India’s ambitious National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) has discreetly commenced operations. The idea of setting up an integrated cyber warfare command was mulled post 26/11. One of the findings from review commission cited lack of an integrated command which was exploited by David Headley. Work on NATGRID commenced about 2 years back. The effort was being led by Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Bangalore and CERT-In (Computer Emergency Response Team, India). Several scientists from CERT-In, CAIR and technical consultants from private sector have worked on the project for two years to set up the Indian Cyber …continue reading

Good riddance Dr. Manmohan Singh!

: Domestic: Written by NitinMishra : 01-03-2014

If one had to sum up 10 years of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s tenure as Prime Minister, almost every adjective to define bad governance can be exhausted. He can very easily be credited with prompting the debate about worst PM ever. Announcement about today’s press conference had set media circles buzzing about possible important decisions. What turned out was stage used by PM to display his bitterness towards media and his possible nemesis Narendra Modi. A stone faced PM read a script as usual and went on to give unconvincing answers in his occasionally stuttering tone only to flare up when …continue reading

GSLV-D5 – Riding India’s own cryogenic engine

: Science and Technology: Written by NitinMishra : 01-01-2014

GSLV-D5, India’s work horse rocket is set to fly again on January 5th at 16:18 hrs IST. This time using the indigenous cryogenic engine. It took two decades of developmental efforts and 7 launches to reach this stage. GSLV (Geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle) has a chequered past. Of the 7 launches 2 were successful, 2 were claimed partially successful and 3 were failure. GSLV is a vital technology that India needs to master, in order to attain indigenous heavy lift capacity. With a successful launch India will achieve the capability to launch satellites in 1-5 ton weight range. Most of …continue reading

The failed opposition

: Domestic: Written by NitinMishra : 12-31-2013

Recent assembly election results threw up an anomaly. An aberration in what was supposed to be a 4-0 clean sweep for BJP. The anomaly was Delhi. The result was surprising in many ways. The BJP which won 2/3rd majority in Rajasthan and M.P stopped just 4 short of majority. Congress was decimated and went down from 43 to 8. AAP the underdog rose from Nil to 28. Result was interpreted in a million different ways. The group generally termed as LIMP (liberal, intellectual, media and politicians) used it to dismiss the Modi wave. AAP on the other hand viewed it …continue reading

The Manchurian Candidates

: Domestic: Written by NitinMishra : 12-30-2013

This 1960 Novel by Richard Condon was a political thriller masterpiece. The plot revolved around a US presidential nominee. He had unknowingly been subjected to an extensive mind control program which in effect turned him into a puppet in the hands of his controller. He was propped up as a war veteran of impeccable character who also held a Medal of Honor from Iraq war. A combination the US public really loves to elect before things go haywire. Of course, this article is not a review of this old classic but i thought it would be prudent to give the …continue reading