India's
Space Odyssey
With The successful return of an orbiting spacecraft, India
joins a select band of nations having the capability to not
just indigenously build and launch satellites but also embark
on manned space missions and lunar explorations
Conflicting policies impede the Leftists' political
agenda even as factional infighting compounds their
problems, writes India Today's Satarupa Bhattacharjya
UPA rises but a majority of Indians reject its social
agenda. NDA remains stagnant while BJP shows signs of
revival. The bipolarity of Indian politics gets starker
as the middle shrinks.
Though Atal Bihari Vajpayee remains the people's favourite
for prime ministership, the BJP is unable to cash in
on the goodwill that he commands to revive the party's
fortunes
There may be a ground for affirmative action, but what
matters is the reason behind it. Education and better
governance, not politically motivated reservation, can
improve the state of religious minorities.
Ultimately, the pm's diktat got the Government to pause
on its hasty SEZ policy-that was threatening to turn
into a nasty scam-till it got a proper rehabilitation
plan in place
The popular perception of a role model is increasingly
dictated by the mass media and lifestyle issues. That
perhaps explains why perception management counts the
most.
Convinced that the prime minister is sincere, people
categorically endorse the Indo-US nuclear deal while
suspicions abound over Pakistan President's intentions
over the recent peace formula
Halfway through its five-year tenure,
the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government bucks the anti-incumbency
trend and sees a gradual rise in its fortunes, a reflection
perhaps of general voter satisfaction at the manner
in which the prime minister and his team have gone about
the task of governance if polls were held today, who
would you vote for?
The ugly racism row may have been forgotten but the
stint on Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother may well
give Shilpa Shetty's sputtering Bollywood career an
international lease of life
COVER
STORY: SPACE
