opinion- Page 128

By KARAN THAPAR Over all these years I got a chance to view Indian politics and, more importantly, Indian politicians intimately. I can’t say that many became friends, but the vast majority

By INDRANIL BANERJIE At the Helm by Tilak Devasher is an utterly compelling book that takes the reader down the tumultuous, often hilarious and ultimately tragic life and times of the diverse

By KARISHMA ATTARI Janki Bai Ilahabadi’s colourful story, she of the “Chhappan Chhuri” marks has all the hallmarks of an interesting period fiction: a woman trapped in a feudal world rising from

By Pratap Bhanu Mehta The relative lack of interest, outside South Africa, in the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela is perhaps a sign of the times, a reflection of the fact that

By Ashutosh Varshney The role of meritocracy in Chinese history, focused on the so-called examination system, has been a matter of long scholarly scrutiny. In its self-image, China is a meritocratic society.

By Khaled Ahmed The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) predictably found the already dismissed prime minister Nawaz Sharif guilty and sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI), his daughter Maryam Nawaz

By Shailaja Bajpai This is the story of men — along with a few women — and their goals in life. Now, the men and women, like their goals, came in different

By OMAR ABDEL HALEEM Social scientists, historians, and economists have been running something of a competition to theorize the origins of the two hallmarks of our time: The catalyst that occasioned the

By A. Faizur Rahman By announcing its decision to open several Darul Qazas (Sharia courts) across India, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has once again stirred a controversy

By ASLAM ABDULLAH There was a time when people would spend months and months preparing themselves financially and spiritually to live the real meaning of Hajj. However nowadays Hajj is offered as