snigdhasen's blog

India's Free Speech Challengers: Online And Off

What happens with a newly-elected Indian minister in the central government starts tweeting? Many hilarious controversies, clashes and headlines.
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India's Best Shot at Going Green

by snigdhasen at 2:02am Fri, 11 Dec 2009 under News & Politics, World, Asia, Green, climate change, India, Environment, Green, Copenhagen summit; 715 views
The general assumption in the climate change circles has been that there can be no substantial outcome at Copenhagen unless the U.S., India and China -- among the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters -- agree to binding norms. Given the current state of the U.S. economy, that will be a tough sell for President Obama and his negotiators, since India and China are unlikely to give in to mandatory targets or trade barriers; they are pushing for developed countries (accused of being prime polluters) to bear the heavier financial burden of keeping Earth from heating over two degrees Celsius, a debt the U.S. has stoutly denied that it owes developing nations. However, both India and China seem to be aware of how crucial it is for them to develop at a fast clip, but sustainably.
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A Year After Mumbai Attacks, Public Scrutiny Exposes Systemic Failures

by snigdhasen at 2:58am Fri, 4 Dec 2009 under News & Politics, World, Asia, security, India, Mumbai, Public, RTI, intelligence, terror, World, attacks; 952 views
In the build up to President Obama's first state dinner, news anchors wondered in awe and glee what new surprises --- like the now-immortalized Princess Diana-John Travolta twirl --- the occasion would throw up. Given that their guests were the India Prime Minister and his wife, I didn't expect another dance surprise.
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The pain of being Pakistan: An update on the terror war's third front

by snigdhasen at 7:29pm Thu, 5 Nov 2009 under News & Politics, World, Asia, United States, Pakistan, War on Terror, War, World, Kerry-Lugar bill; 850 views
Much as we would like to believe that the long-drawn West Asian wars will end soon, the fact is that the U.S. now has a third front to its war on terror: Pakistan. And the Pakistan front is likely to be open for a long time. As a Taliban spokesperson reportedly said: "We are prepared for a long war."
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