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Lucknow a test for Rajnath, the strategist

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For the residents of Lucknow, the sharpest image of Rajnath Singh is that of the state’s chief minister during 2000-2002, straddling across the political scenario with sleeves of his white kurta folded in his trade mark style. He is quite different from the two BJP MPs Lucknow has seen – the poet-at-heart Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the benign Babuji next door, Lalji Tandon. As long as former Prime Minister Vajpayee represented Lucknow in Lok Sabha – for four terms since 1991 – residents of the state capital used to feel privileged, a feeling that had diminished somewhat when BJP veteran, Tandon was a member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council for two terms (1978–84) and a member of Legislative Assembly for three terms (1996–2009). He was chosen by the party to contest the 2009 Lok Sabha election, which he won by a margin of about 40,000 votes, defeating Rita Bahuguna Joshi of the Congress. Now, Joshi, an MLA from Lucknow (cantonment), is pitted against Rajnath Singh, and the contest...
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Preparing for the next election: Governance can wait The Samajwadi Party government headed by Akhilesh Yadav completed one year in office in March 2013. The manner in which the Samajwadi Party swept to power was a decisive rejection of the ways of the Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) regime and former chief minister Mayawati. But all actions of the governments in past one year – strange as it may appear – indicate that instead of improving governance in the State, have been directed at preparing for the next Lok Sabha election rather than setting things right in the state. There were high expectations from this government, but right from the composition of the ministry – and the subsequent reshuffle – to the surprising neglect of the rapidly deteriorating law and order situation, the government has acquitted itself poorly on most fronts. To begin with, the government has transferred more than 1000 officials of the state administration and police, changing nearly every head of depa...
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Akhilesh era begins in Uttar Pradesh On March 15, 2012, Akhilesh Yadav was sworn in as the 33rd chief minister of Uttar Pradesh at a huge open air ceremony in Lucknow on Thursday (March 15). The ceremony began at 11.35 am and lasted for about an hour, during which 19 ministers of the cabinet rank and 28 ministers of state were administered the oath of office secrecy by state’s Governor B.L. Joshi. The new cabinet ministers are: Mohd Azam Khan, Shivpal Singh Yadav, Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh, Ambika Chaudhary, Ahmad Hasan, Waqar Ahmad Shah, Anand Singh, Balram Yadav, Om Prakash Singh, Awadhsh Prasad, Parasnath Yadav, Ram Govind Chaudhary, Durga Prasad Yadav, Brahma Shanker Tripathi, Kameshwar Upadhyaya, Raja Ram Pandey, Raj Kishore Singh, Shiv Kumar Beria and Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya. The new ministers of state are Abhishek Mishra, first time MLA from Lucknow North, Iqbal Mahmood, Mahboob Ali, Shahid Manzoor, Riyaz Ahmad, Farid Mahfooz Kidwai, Waseem Ahmad,...
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Heritage run for ancient railway engine Chennai: January 26, 2012. It was a special day at the Chennai Egmore railway station on Southern Railway as the 157-year old steam locomotive – the oldest in the world -- embarked on its third heritage journey to mark India’s 63rd Republic day. The platform at Egmore wore a festive look as officials of the Southern Railway, Integral Coach Factory (ICF), mediapersons and others boarded the single-coach heritage train amid a huge crowd and police arrangement. The Heritage run was a 10-km journey from Egmore to Guindy, and it was the third in so many years. The locomotive, East Indian Railways (EIR) 21, created by Kitson Thomson and Hewitson of England in 1855, was attached to a 25-year-old compartment that also completed its shelf life in 2010 and was converted into a heritage special. The Southern Railways general manager Deepak Krishan, chief mechanical engineer of ICF Hemant Kumar, director general of police K Ramanujam a...
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Boom time bravado: Doom for decency?

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Why should prosperity make us uncivil? What happens to a society when industrial and economic development takes place at a feverish pace? What are the dynamics of socio-cultural and socio-political developments when a people realise that so far, they had only themselves to be blamed for their hardships and ill-fortune? These and many other similar questions have gained an importance in view of the overspeeding, overheated economic growth in Indian society today. All around there is frenetic activity in almost all sectors of industry, service and manufacturing sector. People’s purchasing power is steadily going up. Amassing of wealth is no longer wise; spending it in different forms (consumption, luxury, investment, and enterprise) is the intelligent thing to do. Surplus income is the norm rather than exception, and moving up the socio-economic ladder is the sole purpose in life for a majority of the multitudes. The last ten years have been amazing in India. In 1995, the early r...
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200-year-old Ganj for the young

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Everything changes. Hazratganj has also changed For those who remember the Ganj from the 60s through the 90s, today’s Ganj is a transformed place. Gone are the landmark buildings and establishments like Mayfair, British Library, Talwars, Keshav Fruit Mart, Benbows, Krishna, Annapoorna, London House, Modern Novelty, Hobbies Corner, Love Lane and – yes, the Hazratganj Kotwali. Changes have been taking place slowly, steadily and suddenly. Today, Ganj is identifiable only because the Northern Railway DRM office, Capoor’s, Central Bank, Chaudhary, John Hing, Halwasiya, Sewak, Soloman, Mullick and Gandhi Ashram have remained unchanged. And also because Royal Café, Kohli, Universal and Bata have changed and yet stayed put. And in place of two cinema halls Prince and Filmistan stands one Sahu. By a calculation best understood by a flexible look at history books, Hazratganj completed 200 years in 2010. So, all the changes of the past few decades shall now be explained away as the cumu...
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December 7, 2010 The Monoliths Life does not treat everyone equally well. Some folks get unusually comfortable treatment while some others don’t, despite both kinds not having done anything extraordinary to deserve what they get. But the power of life acts strangely, as it reaches us through the acts of friends, powerful people, relatives, family members and even total strangers. Take, for instance, the big names in the game of power that have recently had to face embarrassing questions or worse, exit from their comfortable perches. Big names in the fourth estate that were taken with veneration till a few weeks ago, and were included as role models in any discussion about media as a great career. Not only some big names were forced to issue clarifications about their semi-professional or perhaps personal conversations, but some had to actually take a break from their high-profile media appearances lest the allegations became fiercer. And then there were politicians. Two union...
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