Democracy and taxes
In Pakistan, a heated debate is going on about democracy, constitution and rule of law. Government and Opposition are busy countering what they call "onslaught of Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan…
South Africa shantytown forces anti-apartheid museum to close
South African shantytown residents have forced the closure of a museum honouring anti-apartheid heroes, accusing the authorities of building "a house for dead people" while they live in squalor. Once…
With economy sinking, Mugabe sets hopes on ‘old friend’ China
Snubbed by a US-hosted gathering of African leaders this month, Zimbabwe's veteran President Robert Mugabe has turned again to "old friend" China, but even Beijing's support may not be enough…
The mask of anarchy
Rise like lions after slumber In unvanquishable number Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you Ye are many — they are few Shelley…
A mellow fruitfulness
On a crisp January morning 21 years ago, Maya Angelou became the second poet to be invited to recite her verses at a presidential inauguration in the United States. Her…
The incompetence argument against democracy
Like drug addicts, we will endure almost any indignity for yet another hit from the bong of low-grade gossip that passes for national news. Tahirul Qadri’s travails on flight EK…
Blood borders
What is the world coming to? It is as if the red tide of blood has engulfed the whole world. It is killings, bloodshed and chaos everywhere. And Muslims appear…
Eradicating child labour: a global challenge
Children are the most beautiful and purest creation of God. Wordsworth, the poet of nature, used children to illustrate the simplicity, wholesomeness and innocence of man. Nelson Mandela, South Africa's…
Soul of a nation
There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children" – Nelson Mandela. If that is true then the state of…
This is no time to hide
I did not know Mukul Sinha well. I had met him only once at his quiet home in the Ahmedabad suburbs in the summer of 2009 when I had visited…
