The OBC quota issue has taken another interesting turn  of events with the Supreme Court of India staying the operation of the Calcutta High Court.
When the first Supreme Court order had been announced, it appeared that the majority decision was to treat “Graduation” as the benchmark for determining the creamy layer and to withdraw the […]

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I’ve had it up to here with the MSM, especially the NYTimes and it’s clone, the International Herald Tribune. Today’s IHT has an article on how reporters in India were aghast that Bush “Blamed” the rice shortage on Indians eating too much.
But of course, he never said such a thing, and shame to the IHT […]

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The Jaipur bomb blast is yet another challenge to the Muslims as a community. If over 100 persons have died in the serial blast, the blood of the victims is on the Muslim community from within whom the LeTs or HUJIs have found sustenance.
If genuine Muslims are embarrassed that the world is associating the word  […]

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With merely days before the first phase of polling in Karnataka in the Assembly Elections it is puzzling how lack lustre the campaign has been till date.
There has been no defining issue or slate of issues that have dominated the public debate despite the best efforts of the parties. What is even more puzzling about […]

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With only a few days before the first phase of elections in Karnataka to be held, Concerned Citizens are in search for the right candidate who deserves their vote.
There are one section of voters who are firm in their conviction and they will support their choice party irrespective of what happens between now and the […]

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The recent news reports about the Chinese hackers invading the Indian cyber space has opened up the debate on “Cyber Wars” yet again.  While USA is already the global leader in military warfare and has also formally structured a presence in Cyber Warfare through the formation of  a Cyber Command, China appears to be challenging […]

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 We have been discussing the CNN-IBN poll on Karnataka elections in these columns. The CNN-IBN poll prediction that Congress is expected to get majority in Karnataka has been widely criticized as “motivated”.
Now it is learnt that the punters have their own estimates and these estimates predict around 100 seats for BJP and around  60 […]

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If there was any doubt that Commercialization dominates IPL more than Cricket, all doubts have been removed by the inaction of IPL authorities to take action against Ganguly for  vilation of cricketing norms.
In his match against Jaipur on 1st May, Ganguly had committed two acts of indiciplne, first by being late for the start of […]

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The expression on the face of Saurav Ganguly when he challenged the catch taken by Gream Smith of his batting in the match on 1st May as revealed by the Television was highly interesting. It appeared as if it was Ponting marching towards the umpire as he is always known to do in similar circumstances […]

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So even before all the candidates were nominated, submitted nominations were reviewed/accepted/rejected the Clairvoyants Pollsters of CNN-IBN would like us to believe they can show us the light, never mind all previous attempts that lead us into the ditch of electoral outcomes.
Yesterday Offstumped questioned what was new about CNN-IBN’s methodology, well today we take a […]

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The full text of the speech can be found here and here.
Key issues from an Offstumped perspective that standout from the speech.
- There is a high degree of confidence in the BJP about the next election
- The Narendra Modi model of Minimum Government and Maximum Governance seems to be the template the BJP will tout
- One […]

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An Offstumped exclusive for Blogger News Network (BNN) courtesy Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni - the full text of speech by Shri L.K. Advani, Leader of the Opposition and the BJP led NDA’s candidate for next Prime Minister of India,  at the CII National Conference and Annual Session 2008 in New Delhi on 30th April 2008.
The speech is […]

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CNN IBN which is trying to steal a march over NDTV in Poll related coverage in India has come up with the first pre poll election survey regarding Karnataka Polls. Covering a sample size of 5124 , CNN IBN is going to town with its prediction that Congress would form the next Government in Karnataka […]

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The popularity of Cricket in India has been a matter of global attention. Many say Cricket is a religion in India. In fact it may be true. What else can justify a temple of “Cricket Ganesha” where a special “Sahasranaama” pooja is offered invoking the names of cricket legends such as Sachin and Saurav in […]

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The PTI reports these words from Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi
Maintaining that the letters were merely “forwarding” in nature, he said “there is no question of endorsing or agreeing” in what Baalu had written. He denied suggestions that the PMO had lobbied for the gas supply.
So the Government of the Aam Admi is now officially […]

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The shocking incident of Harbhajan Singh reportedly punching/slapping Sreeshant after a Cricket match has raised many issues on Cricketer’s discipline. Simultaneously, it has brought to focus certain legal issues including the issue of “Video Rights” on the happenings during an event particularly when the video is […]

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Is T.R. Baalu a survivor or what - Offstumped takes a critical look at this record.
Did you know that he has had his seat warm in the Union Cabinet since 1995 no matter whether it is the Third Front, Second Front or the Numer Uno Front in power ?
Little wonder his clout runs deep and all […]

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It has been reported that a meeting of the justice ministers of EU has  agreed that using the Internet to publish bomb recipes or call for acts of terrorism to be committed should count as a criminal offence. The members have agreed to introduce the law […]

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There is an ongoing attempt in India to amend the Copyright Law to be in tune with the DMCA of USA. In this connection IPR watchers would remember that one of the provisions of DMCA which threatens the IT Community is the provision regarding “Contributory Infringement” […]

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Hot off the press, an interview with B.S. Yedyyurappa by rediff.com
It appears that the BJP has got the message from Offstumped, excerpts from the interview below
What will be the prime focus of the BJP if voted to power in Karnataka?
Development, development and development. We have a separate plan for Bangalore and the rest of Karnataka. […]

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With all the 3 main players in the polls - Congress, BJP, JD-S busy sorting out domestic issues of ticket distribution, the poll time rhetoric strangely has hit an eerie silence. Even the media has been quite content playing an observer role in stark contrast to its activism during the Gujarat assembly polls.
To stir the political debate, […]

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The spineless Mufti is at it again with his “healing” touch, this time aimed for those across the LOC in POK. Offstumped examines his new hairbrained ideas.
First it was his daughter with talk of joint management of Jammu & Kashmir with suggestions of reserving seats in the legislature. Next it was him with talk of […]

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I want to put an end to all speculations about prime ministership. There is no vacancy for the post.
That was Congress loudmouth Jayanthi Natarajan conveying publicly what her madam must have conveyed privately to Arjun Singh to pre-emptively deflate the Rahul Gandhi trial balloon.
But here is the catch.
There maybe no vacancy for the PM’s post, […]

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Back in the 80s when stale Doordarshan fare was all one had to go by, it was not unusual to have Indira Gandhi and later on Rajiv Gandhi dominate the headlines. Two decades have gone by and we are in a new century, competition arrived a decade ago and with it multiple news channels. But […]

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Business Entities have of late been realizing that threats from Cyber Space have increased beyond the critical point where they can either be ignored or covered as a normal business loss. As Cyber Crime is getting more and more targeted towards financial benefits, the CEOs need […]

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Attention Conspiracy theorists.
They caught two of the ships that caused part of that Middle East Cable outage, and it turns out it was not done by the CIA, or Mossad, or Iran, or Alqaeda.
Just some careless sailors.
There were four cable cuts at the time; this story refers to the FLAG cable between Oman and the […]

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As the chorus for Rahul Gandhi to be projected as the Congress’ candidate for Prime Minister gets louder, there are one of two possible takeaways for the ”heir apparent” according to Offstumped.
Which one he ultimately figures will be revealing on how far along he has come in his internship.
The first and more obvious one is that […]

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There just is no dearth of torchbearers for Dr. Ambedkar’s legacy it seems, as the years roll on and yet another Ambedkar anniversary is observed.
The iconoclast that Ambedkar was it is rather ironic that the loudest of his torchbearers and destiny’s daughter Mayawati is so caught up with installing his statues while throwing in a […]

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Offstumped question for the new week:
Is a benign neighborhood a pre-requisite for a functional and sustainable democracy ?
It is definitely true of all of Western Europe. The more recent converts to democracy in Eastern Europe are still sorting things through but by and large the unstable ones are those with troubled borders and not so […]

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The Telegraph reports
The administration has told government-run temples not to celebrate the traditional Tamil New Year tomorrow, saying the year began three months ago. Angry priests said they had received an oral order banning the New Year rites — special pujas and readings from the Tamil almanac, Panchangam — on Sunday.
At the root of the […]

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