GlobalPost - BRIC Yard

India's Supreme Court backs grim plan to link India's rivers

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:35:49 +0000

Supreme Court orders government to take action on controversial plan to link India's rivers -- rightly dumped in the deep freeze for 10 years.

Jason Overdorf

India's Supreme Court again demonstrated its capricious tendency toward judicial activism, this time using its powers to push a controversial plan to link India's rivers.

Time to interview Modi on 10th anniversary of Gujarat riots

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:17:40 +0000

Curtain raiser suggests a glimpse into the controversial leader's mind is on the anvil.

Jason Overdorf

India braces for Iran oil shock

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 08:43:00 +0000

Markets tank on oil woes, but that's just the tip of the iceberg

Jason Overdorf

An Iran oil shock could hit India's economy hard, writes FirstPost. The market is already pricing in the risk of higher inflation and slower growth, with a major plunge this week.

Israeli paper says India solved bomb case but kept mum to help Iran

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:45:00 +0000

An Israeli newspaper exhibits undue faith in India's investigative agencies.

Jason Overdorf

Indian journalists may not have much faith in the country's investigative agencies, but in the proganda war for regime change in Iran, at least some Israeli ones do.

According to the Indian Express, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz has quoted an unnamed Israeli security official as saying that India has already solved the mystery of the recent assassination attempt on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi, but Indian officials are keeping quiet to avoid angering Iran.

Got soul trouble? Meet Nepal's "urban shamans"

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 05:02:57 +0000

I called the witch doctor, and this is what he said: Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang... Walla walla, bing bang

Jason Overdorf

After decades of modernisation when witch doctors were almost wiped out, "urban shamans" are enjoying a renaissance among Nepal's metropolitan middle class and Westerners looking to be healed, cleansed or spiritually awakened, France24 reports.

That's too bad, considering that rural Nepalis could use some health care, too. But maybe with the witch doctors working in the cities, some actual medical doctors will be forced out into the hills.

Dirt bike across Bhutan: Photos for your Monday blues

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:51:20 +0000

Best of the beat? My vote goes to Bhutan, where I once wangled myself an all-expenses paid vacation. OK, I did have to write an article...

Jason Overdorf

Beat the Monday Blues (or make them worse) with this slide show from a motorcycle trip through Bhutan. If you haven't visited the place, you better go before they scrap that whole "gross national happiness" thing and get with the Asian program for high-rises-and-Gucci-at-all-costs.

India's political criminals: Don't call a spade a spade

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:59:00 +0000

Anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal may have offended the "honorable members" of India's parliament. But when it comes to crime in politics, he was at least 35% right. Allegedly.

Jason Overdorf

India's politicians lashed out at allegations that they are all “rapists, murderers and looters” by a top lieutenant of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare at a weekend Uttar Pradesh campaign rally. But there's no libel suit in the offing yet, and Baba Ramdev, the anti-corruption movement's yoga guru of choice, says there's no crime in calling a spade a spade.

The yogi, who predicted that India's corrupt leaders would come to the same end as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi at his day-long hunger strike Sunday, could well have a point. One only wishes that both Ramdev and Hazare's people would act more productively -- and use the facts at their disposal to help voters spurn the (alleged) crooks. There's no reason, for instance, that Ramdev or Hazare can't name names and ask voters to toss out some of the folks mentioned below.

Out of the 2,195 candidates vying for seats in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, 35 percent have criminal cases pending against them, according to an analysis of mandatory declaration forms by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). That's not saying they're all crooks, of course. But some of the other numbers suggest we ought to forgive Hazare's right hand man, Arvind Kejriwal, for a little exaggeration.

Take Brijesh Singh, a.k.a. Arun Kumar Singh, representing the tiny Pragatishil Manav Samaj Party. He's under the microscope for 39 criminal cases, which include 47 charges related to murder, according to ADR. Then there's Atiq Ahmed of the Apna Dal, who's facing 44 criminal cases, including 12 charges related to murder. Or Mitra Sen of the Samajwadi Party, who faces 36 criminal cases including 14 cases related to murder.

The alleged criminals aren't limited to the minor parties, either. Half of the candidates from the Samajwadi Party—which many are predicting will win enough seats to lead the next government—have criminal cases pending against them. The nation's second-most powerful outfit, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), isn't much better, at 36%. The holier-than-thou Indian National Congress of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh barely nipped its chief rival for the moral high ground, with 34% of its candidates facing criminal charges. And the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by so-called “Dalit queen” Mayawati came in at 33%.

Delhi's poor cousin: the inside story of my most talked about Newsweek piece

Jason Overdorf — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 05:00:16 +0000

Ignoring the my prouder achievements, the Indian press keeps digging up my old article on Ghaziabad. Would that I had bought a flat back then.

Jason Overdorf

The most talked about piece I wrote for Newsweek over a five year stint writing for the magazine was a random contribution to a story on the "World's 10 Most Dynamic Cities" about.... Ghaziabad. Why so? Well, to start with, Ghaziabad is kindof a dump. And until recently it was mostly known for its gangsters.

The Indian media was, and is, perplexed. As the Times of India puts it today:

"In 2006, bang in the middle of this transformation, US magazine Newsweek profiled Ghaziabad as one of the world's most dynamic cities, along with Munich, Las Vegas and London, much to the bewilderment of residents. The news, however, was lapped up by property developers."

Well, let me explain how it came about. First, when the story was thrust onto me, the tagline was the world's fastest growing cities, not the most dynamic. Second, the editors had already selected Ghaziabad. I asked them for some of the stuff they'd been smoking, but they said it wasn't possible to ship that kind of thing internationally unless I had access to the U.S. diplomatic pouch. I suggested we do Delhi itself. Or the NCR. Or even someplace like Surat or Chennai. But no, they were keen on Ghaziabad.

Why? It wasn't because anybody knew anything about the place, apart from my colleague, Sudip Mazumdar, who'd wisely disappeared when this assignment was being handed out. It was because they were basing their decision on a single "objective" criterion. Nope, not economic growth. Not leaps forward in literacy or health care. Or a sudden boom in some flashy new industry like biotech. The answer was population growth. Specifically, the cities that showed the highest population growth over the past five years or some such, according to UN figures. There was Ghaziabad, ahead of everyplace else in India.

I went to check it out. As the TOI describes today, it was sortof a dump, with a lot of high rise construction projects underway at the same time (including some across from a huge landfill). It did seem to be growing pretty fast, though. Everyplace in India is. So I went with the UN, which no doubt got its numbers from the Indian government. But I had some unanswered questions, such as (and this was a stumper): What Ghaziabad was the UN talking about?

Indian PM blames US-based NGOs for anti-nuke protests

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:14:04 +0000

Fierce opposition to nuclear projects across India is a foreign conspiracy, if Manmohan Singh is to be believed.

Jason Overdorf

India's usually reasonable prime minister is getting paranoid, it seems. Or at least when it comes to anti-nuclear protests.

Manmohan Singh has become the latest of a string of Indians to blame "the foreign hand" for troubles at home, The Wall Street Journal points out in an analysis of Singh's recent interview with Science magazine.

But if he's trying to quiet opposition to his bold vision for nuclear energy, he didn't exactly hit the sweet spot.

“The atomic energy program has got into difficulties because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don’t appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply,” Singh told Science with respect to protests against the Kudankulam nuclear plant, in Tamil Nadu.

Huh? I suppose anything is possible. And maybe there are even some foreign NGOs that contribute funds to the local outfits participating in the protests -- that kind of money goes through a lot of different coffers. But implying that it's some grand conspiracy to undermine India's nuclear energy program without any evidence is, frankly, absurd.

Indian NGOs slam environmental approvals as farcical rubber stamp

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:52:16 +0000

If environmental regulations are slowing growth, as the PM says, why is the number of approved projects 10 years ahead of plans?

Jason Overdorf

India's so-called “green clearances” for industrial projects ranging from dams to mines to residential developments are a sad joke, the representatives of more than 100 non-profit organizations testified in New Delhi Friday, at a meeting to discuss the environmental crisis facing the country.

Citigroup sells HDFC stake, cashes in India chips

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:12:46 +0000

Bank nets $1.9 billion in sale

Jason Overdorf

Citigroup sold its stake in India's Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC) for $1.9 billion, cashing in a pile of its India chips to shore up its financial woes in other markets.

According to Bloomberg, the sale resulted in a pretax gain of $1.1 billion for Citigroup, and HDFC shares slipped as much as 6.3 percent today after the selloff.

Is caste over for Indian politics?

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:04:00 +0000

Voters say they value performance more than caste. Voters lie.

Jason Overdorf

Caste politics – which has dominated Indian elections for the better part of 30 years – may just be on the way out, according to University of California professors Vasundhara Sirnate and Pradeep Chhibber.

In an intriguing editorial for the Indian Express, the academics argue that class distinctions are beginning to trump caste distinctions in Uttar Pradesh – India's largest state and in some ways the cradle of caste-based campaigning. It's worth a read. But I'm not buying it. Here's why:

Right off the bat, Sirnate and Chhibber write, "In 2011, a survey in Uttar Pradesh asked voters whether they preferred leaders who could govern to those with whom they had a jati/biradari (caste) relationship. Seventy per cent of the respondents preferred a politician who could deliver public goods and “govern”, and only 20 per cent said that they would like someone from their jati/biradari as a political leader. There were no statistically significant differences in the responses between Hindus, Muslims, Dalits, upper castes, and other backward classes (OBCs)." Their conclusion: "The findings suggest that voters are tired of identity politics and may prefer to vote for politicians that perform."

Bhutan-Arunachal road progressing apace

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:26:10 +0000

Bhutan and India's Arunachal Pradesh aim to leverage connection for increased tourism

Jason Overdorf

Only opened to tourists in 2007, Arunachal Pradesh, in northeast India, is one of the country's most fascinating places -- with dozens of intriguing cultures, rampaging rivers that promise some of the world's best whitewater rafting, and the largest Tibetan monastery outside of Llasa.

Now, with the central government pushing development to stave off China's claims on the territory (see here about the border dispute), the under-visited state is looking to leverage a new road connecting it with neighboring Bhutan to boost tourism. Personally, I can't wait.

At a meeting with a five-member Poverty Reduction Committee of Bhutan'ss National Assembly this week, Arunachal Chief Minister Nabam Tuki said that construction of a road from Tawang (home to the monastery I mentioned) to Bhutan was progressing at a rapid pace, according to CNN/IBN.

India's fictitious "forests" take a hit from the prime minister

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:08:56 +0000

Opening up forest "no-go areas" to coal and power projects presages a dismal future for India's environment

Jason Overdorf

India's mostly fictitious forests took another hit, as the environment ministry cleared mining and power companies to exploit 25 percent of forest land it had previously designated a "no-go area," at the prompting of the prime minister.

Don't get me wrong: I like electricity as much as the next guy. And I understand that India needs coal and power to fuel its economic growth -- and all the benefits that come along with it. But given the grim reality of the typical environmental impact assessment exposed by Business Today's Anusha Subramanian last year in "The Green Trick," and the fraudulent statistics on so-called forest cover exposed by Jay Mazoomdaar in Tehelka last week, my fears about what India may look like 10 or 20 years from now are mounting.

According to the Hindustan Times, the PM intervened to open up the forest tracks on behalf of 30-50 new infrastructure projects, which are slated for environmental approval within 60 days and forest approval in six months, after meeting with a group of industrialists including Ratan Tata. But while it's all too reasonable to expect the environment ministry to clear projects in less than six years -- as the industrialists complain is the case -- it's a mistake to erase the line in the sand drawn by former minister Jairam Ramesh.

The HT writes that more than 100 NGOs from across the country will meet in Delhi this weekend to discuss ways to protect India's dwindling forest cover and degrading natural resources, which is all well and good, considering that the Centre for Science and Environment has noted that clearances for new projects have exceeded the visions of the 11th and 12th five-year plans.

But NGOs can only do so much when multi-billion dollar businesses and the government itself are conspiring to obscure what is happening.

As Subramanian writes, EIAs are habitually manipulated to show that projects are viable. Investigator Sagar Dhara, for instance, was able to find projects that were given the green light before it was even determined where they would be located, EIA documents lifted verbatim from reports prepared for other projects (or in other countries), and more than a few that seemed made up altogether. Yet, "the routine manner in which the government clears them is also alarming," Subramanian explains. "According to government data, the MOEF cleared most of the 2,746 EIAs filed in the two-year period beginning September 14, 2006, the day a new EIA notification came into force. The data was collected by the EIA Environment Resource and Response Centre, or ERC, an initiative of the New Delhi NGO LIFE, through a Right to Information Act application."

At the same time, as Jay Mazoomdaar points out, the forest department is fudging its statistics on forest cover. According to these officials, India's forests have actually thrived and even expanded during the past 60 years, even as the country's population increased by three and a half times. According to the latest State of the Forest report (concocted since 1987) India's forests have grown by 49,986 sq km (7.78 percent) in the past 25 years. Even lovely and pastoral Delhi, where "potholes are perhaps the only water bodies left," boasts 56 sq km of "dense forest."

Free porn: Not just on the Internet in India

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:52:04 +0000

Overheard from Konark to Khajuraho....

Jason Overdorf

This past week, I traveled to Orissa to visit Konark's famous Sun Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Given India Today's dismay over the sudden invasion of the Internet, you'll be shocked to discover what I found.

Nearly a thousand years before Al Gore invented the Internet, Indians had pioneered the field of free porn.

My guide, a guy named Sunil, explained it thus:

Prudes and porn: India panics at the naked web

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:27:27 +0000

Sex is everywhere. But the worst thing about the Internet kind is that it's free.

Jason Overdorf

By the looks of it, India Today magazine makes more money from sex than it does from art, literature, hate, god, and politics put together.

Every year it does a survey or two about Indian bedroom antics, announcing that 70 percent of Punjabis are into wife-swapping, that 27 percent of Tamils are backdoor men (in one way or another) or that 46 percent of urban women fantasize about (Bollywood's) Govinda.

But that's all in the guise of censure, so it's OK. What's really got the (fake) prudes hot and bothered this time around -- following a too-convenient news peg supplied by two politicians caught watching porn in the Karnatak state assembly -- is the Internet. "Blue movies" and skin mags are one thing, the logic runs, but when porn is free, the sky really is about to fall.

Just for kicks, get on Google and type "hot desi sex" or maybe something a little more innocuous like "voluptuous Punjabi princess" and you'll see what these guys are getting at.... Okay, stop! Are you 18 years old? All right. You can read the rest.

Sympathy for Bollywood's Saif Ali Khan -- arrested for assault

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:00:03 +0000

Gandhi-schmandhi: Some behavior just deserves a punch in the nose

Jason Overdorf

Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan -- a man whom by all rights I should despise, given my wife's obsession with him -- was arrested Wednesday in Mumbai. Allegedly, he was eating at a restaurant in a five star hotel with his girlfriend, Kareena Kapoor, and he popped some guy in the nose for mouthing off.

Fakes and frames: Why can't Delhi police convict?

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:38:16 +0000

Special Cell comes under fire for fabricating evidence and framing suspects

Jason Overdorf

When the Delhi police joined Facebook, they didn't get many friend requests. And some people wrote in asking for a "hate" button. So it's not too surprising that pesky reporter-activist types are out for blood, following new revelations about the dread Special Cell – the Indian capital's answer to L.A.'s Rampart squad.

It turns out that the supercops struggle to convict a third of the alleged criminals they pursue, according to the results of a Right to Information (RTI) request filed by the filed by Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association (JTSA). But it's not because they're the bumbling slobs caricatured in media reports on new mandatory fitness programs for the force, or the incompetent investigators portrayed in the recap of the farcical botching of Page One cases like the 2008 double murder of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar and a family servant, argues Manisha Sethi in an interesting article for Kafila.org.

India aims to expand opium business

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:06:00 +0000

India bets on selling opiates to foreign drug manufacturers to fight illegal trade

Jason Overdorf

India is keen to expand the opium trade in order to....well...curtail the opium trade.

Here's the deal, according to Asia Times Online's Neeta Lal:

To curb trafficking in opium and its illegal derivatives, like heroin, India is planning to open up the trade in opiate-based pharmaceuticals to private companies. New Delhi is hoping for a boost in foreign exchange along with the deal. (So far, no barter arrangement of opium for Iranian oil has been worked out, though that would be a very clever riff on India's obsession with the British Empire).

India is one of the few countries in the world that legally grows poppies for the production of opium. But for about 50 years, the government has strictly controlled the entire trade -- from production to pricing and disposal / distribution. Licensed farmers were only allowed to sell poppy plants to two state-run opium and alkaloid factories that produce poppy straw concentrate. Now, private firms will be allowed to manufacture "narcotic alkaloids" like morphine and codeine, Lal explains.

Read on here to learn about doctors' concerns about the effects on pricing, and what the state has proposed to do to curb addiction and restrict illicit cultivation.

Bollywood: Invasion of the white girls

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:45:00 +0000

When fair isn't good enough, you gotta go foreign.

Jason Overdorf

Once upon a time, writes Firstpost, you could rely on ice maiden Aishwarya Rai to sell soap. Or even uni-browed (and uni-named) Kajol. These days, Bollywood is reeling under The Invasion of the White Girls.

But it's all topsy turvy: "Even as our actresses try to look more like Cameron Diaz, with their blonde streaks and skin whitening treatments, we have an influx of lily-white foreigners who are being bronzed and tanned – and not very well – to be made to look more desi. This, of course, defeats the purpose of casting a foreigner in the first place."

Too true, too true.

It was brought to my attention that some readers of this blog don't even know what "fairness cream" is (It makes you look WHITE, people!). So perhaps some explanation is in order. All those Indians in Bollywood (and Tollywood, Kollywood, Mollywood, and Trollywood--okay, that last one is made up) are not the same. While in L.A. the boob job may be the difference between success and failure, here it's all too often the color of your skin. "Indian" doesn't spell acceptance of all colors, even if the ever increasing popularity of everything desi, from bhangra to the sari, suggests that Brown is the new Black.

Aishwarya Rai is fair enough by most estimates, but even she got in a spat when a fashion magazine lightened her up a few shades (nobody could erase her pants suits from history, unfortunately). Bipasha Basu, the looking-London-going-Tokyo desi Sophia Loren? Too dark. Priyanka Chopra, the one-time beauty queen who's now the A-lister of A-listers? Dusky.

No wonder directors are looking for girls like "the Brazilian-Arabian Bruna Abdullah who’s acted in I Hate Luv Storys and Desi Boyz; the Brazilian Giselli Monteiro who played the very Punjabi Harleen Kaur in Love Aaj Kal and a forgettable Indian teenage schoolgirl in the even more forgettable Always Kabhi Kabhi; and the latest Bollywood recruit, British model Amy Jackson in Ekk Deewana Tha," according to FirstPost.

In Tollywood, with Pico Iyer and Vanity Fair

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:42:39 +0000

You think Bollywood is fun. Try Tollywood, in Hyderabad.

Jason Overdorf

Most folks think that the term Bollywood is a nickname for Indian movies. But the truth is it only refers to the 20 percent or so of Indian films made by Bombay's commercial Hindi business. (B)ombay + (H)ollywood = Bollywood. There's also Tollywood, Kollywood, Lollywood, and on and on.

India's Pramath Sinha on business - extended remix

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:50:00 +0000

Can't get enough of the new Suite Spot? Here's the extended remix of my interview with Pramath Sinha

Jason Overdorf

Pramath Sinha, the founder and managing director of 9.9 Mediaworx, played agony aunt to the Indian government and the country's largest companies for 12 years as a partner at McKinsey & Co. GlobalPost's senior correspondent for India, Jason Overdorf, quizzed him about the current business climate.

(This is the uncut transcript of the interview that appeared in the Suite Spot yesterday).

Delhi Lamborghini crash? It's not about the car

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:59:24 +0000

Delhi drivers are capable of mowing down pedestrians with the cheapest and least asthetic of vehicles, as well

Jason Overdorf

Attention Delhi drivers: It's not about the car. Like Lance Armstrong says, the guy in control means more than the machine. And there's only one cure for terminal stupidity, as discovered by the driver of a Lamborghini who died Sunday after nailing a bicyclist and plowing into a bus stop.

Meet India's "other" nudists

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:08:09 +0000

Turns out you don't have to be a sadhu to walk around naked.

Jason Overdorf

Meet India's "other" nudists.

That's right. It turns out you don't have to a sadhu (Hindu mendicant) to walk around naked, according to this week's Outlook. And you don't even have to cover yourself with ash -- though a little sunscreen might be advisable.

For India's "village of prostitutes," a mass wedding offers hope

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:50:46 +0000

For decades, pimps flourished here because prostitutes' daughters were viewed as unsuitable for marriage

Jason Overdorf

An Indian "village of prostitutes" in Gujarat is about to get its first mass wedding -- as a local non-profit helps 15 young girls find grooms and avoid the family business.

India's SpiceJet offloads passenger with cerebral palsy

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:22:31 +0000

The humiliation suffered by a teacher with cerebral palsy reflects the miserable status of the disabled in India.

Jason Overdorf

Low-cost airline Spicejet brought new oppobrium to the term "no frills" this weekend, offloading a teacher with cerebral palsy from a flight from Kolkata to Goa after the pilot insisted she was not fit to travel alone.

India pushes for $300 Bn South Asian power grid

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:35:23 +0000

Jason Overdorf

India is angling to build a $300-billion transnational power grid to exploit the huge hydroelectric power generation of its neighbors. But if it's past record in making friends (or dams) comes into play, it may have a long road ahead.

India-Iran Bizarro World: Now, Israel plays India, Iran plays Pakistan, and India plays US

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:34:00 +0000

Everything's upside down in the foreign policy version of Bizarro World

Jason Overdorf

Following the Iran-Israel-India-US debacle over oil payments and Monday's bomb blast in New Delhi? Welcome to the foreign policy equivalent of Superman's Bizarro World.*

Indian cities among world's cheapest

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:02:00 +0000

So, you thought only life was cheap in India?

Jason Overdorf

Life is cheap in India, but so is living, according to a new survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Mumbai ranked second only to Karachi among the world's cheapest cities, according to the report, while New Delhi came in fourth.

India's biscuit bandits strke again

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:08:25 +0000

Drug-laced cream sandwich cookie costs South African $3500

Jason Overdorf

The biscuit bandits strike again!

Awhile back there were a spate of cautionary tales in the Indian press about people who fell victim to smooth-talking traveling companions aboard Indian trains. In the spirit of convivial travel, they happily excepted cream biscuits, or sandwich cookies, as Nabisco likes to call them, only to wake up hours or (in once case) days later with all their valuables gone.

Yep. It turns out those nice boys on the train had mixed powerful sedatives into that tasty cream filling. Oh-oh-oh for some ice-cold milk.

Indian sex: What's unnatural, asks Supreme Court?

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:21:40 +0000

India's Supreme Court begins debate on the legality of decriminalising gay sex

Jason Overdorf

What's unnatural when it comes to sex, India's Supreme Court asked Wednesday?

To paraphrase Cole Porter: Bird do it, bees do it. But astrologers and gurus are opposed to it.

That's right folks, the fight to decriminalize homosexuality continues in India, with the Supreme Court finally beginning deliberations on a petition to set aside its 2009 ruling that consenting sex between adults, conducted in private, need not be considered a jailing offense.

Delhi-Israel bomb Update: India hedges on Israel demand for UN resolution

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:45:00 +0000

In curious reversal of its past struggles with Pakistan, India demands more evidence before it will back censuring Iran

Jason Overdorf

India hedges as Israel demands UN resolution on Delhi bomb India appears to be hedging its bets as Israel demands its backing for a proposed United Nations resolution condemning Iran for this week's bomb blasts in Tblisi, New Delhi and Bangkok.

Delhi police on Thursday downplayed the similarities between bombs detonated in New Delhi and Bangkok earlier this week. Although both devices were magnetic limpet bombs, the police said, the explosives used and the bomb designs were significantly different.

India's so-called slum ingenuity hinges on exploitation and pollution

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:19:00 +0000

Why are India's disastrous sweatshops hailed as examples of its "entrepreneur" spirit?

Jason Overdorf

India's informal costs has huge hidden costs. But both the government and (too often) the media trumpet its parasitic success as a triumph of ingenuity amid poverty.

Think I'm wrong? Contrast a typical article about the “industries” of Dharavi – Asia's largest slum, surrounding Mumbai's international airport – to Katherine Boo's much-talked-about new book about the lives of slum dwellers, Behind the Beautiful Forevers.

In a representative article for the New York Times, Jim Yardley follows up on many similar Indian reports to profile a Dharavi where a “a churning hive of workshops” generates “ an annual economic output estimated to be $600 million to more than $1 billion.” While Yardley describes the crowded, dangerous living conditions in some detail – “a cliché of Indian misery” – he emphasizes the productivity and “can-do spirit” of the slum, which has, in his words, become almost “a slum franchising operation,” outsourcing its business model to other slums throughout Mumbai (and the rest of the country.

“...Dharavi is an industrial gnat compared with China’s manufacturing heartland — and the working conditions in the slum are almost certainly worse than those in major Chinese factories — but Dharavi does seem to share China’s can-do spirit,” Yardley writes. “Almost everything imaginable is made in Dharavi, much of it for sale in India, yet much of it exported around the world.”

In fact, with this contrast to China, and a lengthy description of India's informal sector, Yardley does strike at the heart of the matter. I'm singling him out here not because he does a bad job, but because he's writing for America's publication of record. As readers of this blog know, the so-called triumph of Indian ingenuity has long been one of my bugbears – and as such I'd have like to see Yardley spell out exactly why the slum model of business succeeds, and what it costs the country and its employees. For as he mentions in passing, this is many times worse than the alleged exploitation of workers at factories run by China's FoxConn -- no more an example of the entrepreneur's genius than Somalia's notorious pirates.

India: Uttar Pradesh voter turnout a sign of change?

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:58:00 +0000

Record turnout in pivotal state election may hint at an end to politics-as-usual in India

Jason Overdorf

As India's largest state goes to the polls in an election with heavy implications for the national government, there are signs that various efforts to end the revolving door business of politics as usual may have borne fruit.

The first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh saw record voter turnout of 62-64 percent, the Times of India reported Thursday, citing Election Commission figures.

But while the paper quotes Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi as saying the high turnout resulted from his organization's efforts to register and educate voters, on-the-ground observers with the local press detect a groundswell of change.

The Indian Express, for instance, called the latest round of polls an “aspiration vote,” in its staff editorial Thursday, arguing that both the voters and the major parties have perhaps for the first time focused on the most important issues facing the state – rather than the jingoist formulations of caste and creed.

Of course those same parties have taken caste-and-creed arithametic into account in choosing their candidates – as in all Indian elections it is presumed that voters most often choose “one of their own.” But in their campaign speeches and manifestos, there is a new attention to more substantive concerns in a state that lags behind the rest of India on almost every social and economic indicator.

The Express notes, “...the political contenders in the fray have covered a fair distance since 2007 in responding to [voters'] aspirations. The [Samajwadi Party (SP)], for example, lit up its manifesto five years ago with outrage over computerisation and English-language dominance. Now, the SP has hushed its old linguistic anxieties, its chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is seeking to reclaim the law-and-order plank on which [Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader] Mayawati constructed an anti-SP vote in 2007, and its manifesto brims with promises of free laptops and tablets for students. While highlighting its Centrally-moved welfare schemes, the Congress says it will subsidise access to healthcare and legal assistance, besides bringing Muslims under the Mandal framework for [quotas in government jobs and higher education]. The [Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)] is keeping low-key its [ethnic nationalism] Hindutva outreach and speaking of free electricity and crop insurance to farmers, and subsidised foodgrain for [below poverty line] families. And all parties dwell on an infrastructure vision, with electricity generation as a pivot.”

Pedestrian Horn: An invention tailor-made for India

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:37:00 +0000

Why should walkers be denied one of New Delhi's greatest pleasures?

Jason Overdorf

Perhaps it was delirium, but soon after I landed in Delhi ideas for inventions began to spring to mind: the Refrigerator Snorkel®, the Beggar and Tout Repulsion Kit®, the Phone Megaphone®. All perfectly good ideas, bogged down by research and development costs. (The corporation’s bar tab alone was astronomical).

Only one of my inventions ever made it to the product-testing phase: the Pedestrian Horn®.

Although the concept has potential for the global market, the Pedestrian Horn® is ideal for India. Here the horn is more than an attention-getter, a safety precaution. It is a surrogate voice, a one-man radio broadcast, a catcall, a curse (of course), and, above all, an expression of manhood. No motorist would operate without one. Residents of other countries can no doubt imagine many of the things the horn is capable of saying. But one has to visit Delhi to witness its true versatility.

In this city of 15 million souls and (on any given day) some 10 million motor vehicles, there is not a single stop sign. Overtaking is general, even on single-lane, residential streets. The red light is interpreted as an overcautious warning and the blinking red light as completely meaningless. Nowhere else can the horn be employed to say: Be advised, I am now going to drive on the wrong side of the road until reaching the intersection and executing a right turn. Indeed, however optimistic it might have been to say of the Indian government, John Kenneth Galbraith would have been spot on had he declared Delhi traffic to be a “functioning anarchy.” In the midst of this chaos, I saw that the pedestrian was helpless, impotent, mute—though by no means deaf. A hundred flyovers, parking lots and highways were under construction, but not a single footbridge, subway or sidewalk. I even had the perfect slogan: Honk Back!

Marketeers, you can see the pedestrian horn’s potential functional advantages and benefits (FAB): first dibs at the cigarette wallah, immediate attention from waiters, victory in the Haldiram’s “queue.”

Now, when you move to India to become a writer you more or less give up on the idea of being a billionaire. But I’d looked at my assets and done the currency conversion, and I thought I had a reasonable chance at a crore—or 10 million—rupees. With the Pedestrian Horn®, I had a real shot at being a crorepati (in dollar terms, a twohundredthousandaire). I was already thinking spinoffs: the Backseat Driver’s Horn®, the Pedestrian Horn with Optional Bright/Dimmer Headlamp®. I grabbed the telephone.

“Hello,” said a surly voice.
“Hello, is this the Patent Office?”
“HELLO!”
“HELLO! Is this the”—
“HELLO!”
“HELLO! Is this the Patent Office?”
“Aap kaun hain?”
I switched to my trusty Hindi.
“Mine name Jason are”—
“HELLO!”—
“HELLO! I is journalist. HELLO! I journalist are! You Patent Office? I JOURNALIST ARE!”

The phone went dead. I’d never made any progress with the Phone Megaphone® or I’d have called back. Instead, I decided to go ahead with the product test.

India: US ambassador nominee grilled over Iran-India oil issue

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:52:32 +0000

Ambassador nominee Nancy Powell says selling Iran sanctions would be job one.

Jason Overdorf

Nancy J. Powell, the career diplomat slated to be the next U.S. ambassador to India, was grilled by Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike over how she would handle New Delhi's reluctance to honor America's economic sanctions against Iran at nomination hearings in Washington this week, reports Rediff.com.

“I know that this is going to be one of the issues that I will be spending a great deal of time on, in working with the Iranian sanctions legislation with our own policies and with the Indians to work with them,” Powell said.

"Iran and India have a long tradition of trade across energy and other fields. It is one that is clearly a part of our sanctions regime, that we are hoping to see it significantly reduced."

However, questions from Democratic Senator Robert Mendendez of New Jersey indicated that U.S. lawmakers are not keen to allow India much wiggle room.

India: Pakistan hyping Hafiz Saeed to boost flagging US support for its military shadow government

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:59:00 +0000

Massive rallies in support of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder's political coalition are meant to scare Washington into playing ball with Pakistan's military, says Indian hawk

Jason Overdorf

Pakistan's spooks and generals are styling alleged terrorist Hafiz Saeed as a rising political force to shore up flagging U.S. support for the country's military shadow government, argues the editor of Pragati--The Indian National Interest Review.

Writing for Mid Day, Singh explains that Saeed is being projected as a rising figure in a new, 40-party coalition called Difa-e-Pakistan, which also includes figures like former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Hamid Gul and former army head Mirza Aslam Baig.

Considered by India and others to be the founder of the notorious Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group, Saeed is there to convince the U.S. that it must support Pakistan's military-spy agency shadow government, lest its democratic institutions throw up a dangerous radical.

Iran gas deadline puts more pressure on India to defy US sanctions

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:11:47 +0000

Iran gives India's state-owned firms a month to act on deal to develop huge natural gas field

Jason Overdorf

Iran gave Indian firms a deadline of a month to sign a contract to develop a gas field discovered in the Persian Gulf, in a move that appears to be intended to extort further Indian support against U.S. economic sanctions.

The move comes a day after U.S. President Barack Obama tightened sanctions on Iran's central bank, arguing that various players had managed to circumvent the measures imposed at the end of 2011.

“Previously, U.S. banks were required to reject, rather than block and freeze, Iranian transactions,” Reuters reported. “Obama's executive order requires American institutions to seize Iranian state assets they encounter instead of just turning them back.”

As I reported last week for GlobalPost, India opposes Iran's nuclear program, but is angling for a waiver or exemption from the sanctions blocking oil purchases. Not only does it rely on Iran for 12-15 percent of its oil supply, but also New Delhi believes good relations with Tehran to be important given the potential of future conflicts with China and Pakistan.

India: Was Jesus a Communist?

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:34:00 +0000

Communist politicians spanked by Catholics for claiming Christ as world's first revolutionary.

Jason Overdorf

Was Jesus a communist? In a special India spin on What Would Jesus Do? (WWJD), the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has run afoul of Catholics in the southern state of Kerala with campaign speeches and a spoof of Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper that suggest Christ was the world's first Marxist revolutionary.

The whole tamasha was anti-capitalist propaganda, according to India's Economic Times newspaper. “The 'reworked painting,' printed with the caption 'last supper of capitalism,' showed US president Barack Obama at the centre and Congress and BJP leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and BJP's LK Advani etc, on either sides,” the paper explains. “The reworked poster was displayed at a few places near Thiruvananthapuram by party workers but was removed on the instruction of the party.”

Various Christian outfits took offense, according to FirstPost, marking yet another instance in which an Indian religious group claimed “hurt sentiments” in response to political speech. (Not to mention the kind of thing that, these days, can get you knocked off Google and Facebook, as GlobalPost reported earlier today). And it was not long before the state's Congress party Chief Minister Oommen Chandy demanded an apology.

Move Indian parliament to Tihar: A modest proposal

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:11:00 +0000

A modest proposal for preventing India's politicians from being a burden to the police force or the country, and for making them beneficial to the public. (With apologies to Jonathan Swift)

Jason Overdorf

It is a melancholy object to those who walk through New Delhi or travel across states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with politicians, followed by three hundred, four hundred, or six hundred supporters, all holding placards and shouting slogans.

These politicians, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling the streets to beg sustenance for their party bosses and financiers, who either turn thieves in their efforts to gain power, or gain power in their efforts to turn thieves.

I think it is agreed by everyone that this prodigious number of criminals – or alleged criminals, that is – is in the present deplorable state of the Indian republic a very great additional grievance; and, therefore, whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these polititicians – or alleged politicians, that is – sound, useful citizens, would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.

It is to that end that I introduce a modest proposal to combine the premises that today house our august state and federal governments with those that are home to our other most laudable models of efficiency and probity, namely, our jails. The suggestion is so obvious that I must beg forgiveness of anyone who may have made it before, of course. But permit me a small indulgence, and allow me to lay out my own reasons, insofar as they may be different, if not more convincing, than your own thoughts on the matter.

Rethinking Kipling on UK's Diamond Jubilee

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:10:01 +0000

Blast from the past: My review of The Long Recessional as the UK gets all nostalgic.

Jason Overdorf

Rethinking Rudyard Kipling, who wrote The White Man's Burden for the last go-round, on the queen's Diamond Jubilee. Say what you want about him, but the creator of Kim and Mowgli was, as much as anybody, the mythmaker of the British Empire. (Note: the Diamond Jubilee celebrates 60 years of the queen's "reign").

India's nurses face grim plight

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:48:51 +0000

How a suicide and a facebook campaign stirred a revolution among India's nurses

Jason Overdorf

The plight of India's nurses is grim. Wages are low. Working conditions are poor. And if you threaten to quit, well, your employer might just hold onto your credentials so you can't apply for another job.

That's right, working as a nurse in India's underfunded, overcrowded health care system has more than a little in common with bonded labor, Shahina KK writes for this week's Open.

India's ludicrous cheetah reintroduction plan

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:26:03 +0000

WWF or WTF? It's time to put the kibosh on plans to bring cheetahs to India

Jason Overdorf

India's ludicrous plan to reintroduce the cheetah to its nonexistent wilderness must be stopped, and fast, Jay Mazoomdar argues in this week's Open.

India's Chidambaram cleared in 2G spectrum case

Jason Overdorf — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:52:58 +0000

Special CBI court finds no evidence of criminal conspiracy in Congress Party leader's actions as finance minister

Jason Overdorf

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court exonnerated former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Saturday, ruling that there was no evidence of “criminal conspiracy” or “malafide” intent in his assocation with the allotment of licenses in the so-called 2G telecom spectrum scam.

The ruling comes after the Supreme Court declined to accept opposition lawmaker Subramanian Swamy's request that it instruct the CBI to launch a probe into Chidambaram's involvement in the scandal.

India's Manmohan Singh claims progress on corruption in wake of Supreme Court blow

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:54:00 +0000

Manmohan Singh touts government's progress against corruption after 2G spectrum ruling puts scanner on his ministers

Jason Overdorf

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claimed his government has made substantial progress in the fight against corruption, following calls for his immediate resignation in association with Thursday's Supreme Court ruling in the notorious 2G telecom spectrum scam.

As damage control, it was likely too little, too late. But the timing of the Court's ruling — amidst elections in five Indian states — made some reaction impossible to avoid, especially with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party calling for Singh's immediate resignation.

According to the Times of India, Singh told a gathering of public servants that the government has moved "substantially forward" in curbing corruption and improving public services delivery system but acknowledged there is "still a long way" to go to ensure transparency, accountability and probity in public life. He also said that he was confident that the legislature would soon enact a law to create a strong Lokpal, or ombudsman, the chief demand of anti-corruption protesters led by Anna Hazare.

The speech comes just a day after a Supreme Court decision to cancel 122 tainted telecommunications licenses supposedly allotted on a first-come, first-served basis by former telecom minister A. Raja, as well as a ruling that a call to investigate Home Minister P. Chidambaram for his alleged role in the case should be decided by the trials court.

The implication was that the Supreme Court had found sufficient evidence to suspect that kickbacks were involved in the distribution of the licenses, though the associated criminal case against Raja and various other players is still underway. And even in refusing to grant plaintiff Subramanian Swamy's request and compel the Central Bureau of Investigation to launch a probe into Chidambaram, the court granted some ammunition to the harshest critics of Singh's Congress Party.

Okay, the BJP calls for Singh's resignation more often than Lindsay Lohan ditches rehab. But there's a little more meat on the bone than usual this time, as there does appear to be some evidence that Chidambaram was aware of the method Raja was using to allot telecom spectrum.

The question, however, is whether there were any bribes or kickbacks, and if so, whether Chidambaram knew about them. Much has been made about the colossal -- though nominal -- loss to the treasury caused by the decision not to auction the telecom licenses. But if the first-come, first-served formula was followed without any money changing hands, one could argue that it was an attempt — misguided or no — to pass savings on to end-users, and resulted in one of the world's cheapest and fastest growing mobile markets.

Of course, that's a pretty big "if."

India's gurus leave conflict in their wake

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:15:31 +0000

Turns out renouncing private property and such has its drawbacks

Jason Overdorf

India's renowned gurus -- once controversial for urging their followers to indulge in orgies, or just beg for money at airports -- leave behind a mess when they ascend to the astral plane or whatever it is they do to get out of this place.

India most dangerous place to be a girl: UN

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:13:00 +0000

Girls 75% more likely than boys to die between the ages of 1 and 5

Jason Overdorf

India is the most dangerous place in the world to be a girl, a new United Nations report confirms as the country wrings its hands over the fates of an abused toddler and a 14-year-old girl sold into prostitution.

According to newly-released data by the United Nations, a girl child aged between 1-5 years is 75 per cent more likely to die than a boy of the same age, News24Online reports. And China and India were the only two countries in the world where female infant mortality was higher than male infant mortality in the 2000s.

Delhi to de-worm 4 million school children

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:46:27 +0000

One in six Delhi children is infested with worms

Jason Overdorf

The state of Delhi is set to de-worm a whopping 4 million children on Feb. 21, in a bid to fight a pervasive health problem that causes childhood malnutrition, anaemia, retarded mental development, slowed physical growth and reduced academic performance, according to the Hindustan Times.

Frankly, I don't know whether to be horrified or relieved.

India 2G spectrum case: Supreme Court revokes 122 telecom licenses

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:29:26 +0000

Decision could sour investment climate

Jason Overdorf

India's Supreme Court on Thursday revoked 122 telecommunications licences associated with the so-called 2G spectrum scam, in a judgement that will send a shiver down the spine of foreign investors.

India: Factory output, exports show signs of life

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:28:47 +0000

Good manufacturing numbers driving rupee out of crisis zone

Jason Overdorf

An uptick in India's factory output suggests that the economy may be bouncing back from the year-end doldrums that drove down the benchmark Sensex. And Indian vacationers will be as pleased as the country's economic planners to note that the strong signals have had a salutary effect on the value of the rupee.

India's Iran dilemma: Political cost of oil

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:47:09 +0000

Washington would do well to consider a long-term scenario in which India is its most powerful ally in Asia and Iran has its nuclear weapons anyway

Jason Overdorf

Indian companies' reliance on Iranian oil has New Delhi in a tough spot. But Washington would do well to consider a long-term scenario in which India is its most powerful ally in Asia and Iran has its nuclear weapons anyway.

India Inside? More than half of US patent applications have Indian brains behind them

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:33:24 +0000

50-66 percent of US industrial innovations originate in Indian R&D outsourcing centers

Jason Overdorf

India Inside is more than a slogan: More than half of U.S. patent applications have Indian brains behind them, according to a new study from the Indian Institute of Managment in Ahmedabad (IIM-A). Or at least for companies that have outsourced R&D to India.

India: France's Dassault wins $10.4 billion fighter contract

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:55:11 +0000

Makers of Eurofighter say competition isn't over for medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA)

Jason Overdorf

France's Dassault Aviation on Tuesday pipped the European consortium that makes the Eurofighter to win a $10.4 billion contract to supply the Indian Air Force's medium multi-role combat aircraft. But analysts say the battle isn't over and the makers of the Eurofighter are likely to launch a lower bid for the project, according to the New York Times.

Maoists' vasectomy record beats India's

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:55:14 +0000

Maoist rebels say they were forced to undergo vasectomy operations before marriage

Jason Overdorf

India's Maoist rebels have a better track record in convincing men to get vasectomies than the government, news coming out of Chhattisgarh suggests.

Half a dozen surrendered Maoists from the epicenter of the simmering rebellion said their leaders agreed to let them marry -- but only if they first got themselves snipped, according to CNN/IBN.

Prosecute Border Security Force torturers, India urged - VIDEO

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:37:38 +0000

Human Rights Watch calls for India to prosecute BSF soldiers caught on tape torturing a Bangladeshi smuggler

Jason Overdorf

India must prosecute Border Security Force personnel caught on tape torturing a Bangladeshi cattle smuggler, Human Rights Watch urged Tuesday.

India land grab: Forced evictions in Orissa - VIDEO

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:15:05 +0000

Tribal villagers ousted to make room for toxic waste dump

Jason Overdorf

India's great land grab continues, with police forcibly evicting tribal villagers in Orissa from land sold to UK-based Vedanta Resources to use as a toxic waste dump, Amnesty International reports.

Indian man killed for taking too long in public toilet

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:59:00 +0000

Bizarre death resulted from a kick in the crotch

Jason Overdorf

A 26-year-old Mumbai slum dweller was killed Saturday in a spat over a public toilet, the Hindustan Times reports.

According to the police, 42--year-old Santosh Kargutkar took issue with the long time that Simon Ningeri spent on the throne, and after heated words led to a fist fight, kicked Ningeri in the crotch. Nobody seems to know what happened after that, but Ningeri was dead on arrival at a local hospital.

"India Inside": How India's invisible innovations are driving the world's business

Jason Overdorf — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:16:31 +0000

A new book from two London Business School professors argues that India's innovations are no less groundbreaking because they happen deep down the value chain.

Jason Overdorf

This week's Outlook Business has an interesting Q&A with London Business School professors Nirmalya Kumar and Phanish Puranam, who argue in their new book "India Inside" that the "invisible innovations" developed by Indian companies are transforming the world of business.

Says Nirmalya:

In Indian ethnic controversies, consider the source

Jason Overdorf — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:59:15 +0000

Hindu nationalists protest on behalf of Sikhs, raise Pakistani flag for Muslims

Jason Overdorf

Supposed ethnic controversies ranging from an effort to bar Salman Rushdie from visiting India to an official diplomatic objection to a joke from Jay Leno made headlines this week in India. But a couple footnotes to the stories provide a good warning. When it comes to ethnicity- or religion-based controversies in India, consider the source.

India's "masterly inaction" at heart of paper victory against insurgency

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:04:00 +0000

The Republic Day parade showcased India's troops and military hardware, but it is best at the fine art of doing nothing.

Jason Overdorf

India's Republic Day parade is meant to celebrate the formation of one of the world's most intelligent, liberal and fair-minded constitutions. But it's really just a massive exercise in "my missile is bigger than yours."

Thai-Burma port project offers big boost to India's Look East Policy

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:08:27 +0000

Alternative to Chinese projects in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the Thai port in Burma is more economically viable and better poised to unite the region.

Jason Overdorf

India inked six new pacts covering defence, security and the economy this week and agreed to push through a free trade agreement before the summer. But the biggest advance for India's “Look East Policy” could well come from the Thai premier's push to develop an important deepwater port in Burma -- if New Delhi takes the opportunity to climb aboard, writes C. Raja Mohan.

Bihar: India's 'most backward' state first off the blocks in beating corruption

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:09:25 +0000

Political will of chief minister Nitish Kumar is driving India's most successful bid to end corruption

Jason Overdorf

Bihar -- long known as India's "most backward" state -- is winning the war against corruption, reports Sudip Mazumdar for Foreign Policy.

Bal Thackeray's Shiv Sena: Is India's original anti-migrant party in terminal decline?

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:11:00 +0000

Resulting vacuum could spur a Scarface-style battle for succession

Jason Overdorf

Bal Thackeray's Shiv Sena is in terminal decline, writes Haima Deshpande in this week's Open Magazine. But the demise of India's original anti-migration party won't mark the end of the politics of bigotry in Maharashtra. On the contrary, it's just as likely to flag off a Scarface-like battle for succession among political parties that have all too much in common with street gangs.

Indian Intelligence: China stepped up border intrusions before talks

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:39:32 +0000

Intelligence Bureau document cites a provocation for nearly every day last year.

Jason Overdorf

India's Intelligence Bureau isn't exactly ready to welcome special envoy Dai Bingguo's declaration that we're embarking on a "golden era" of India-China relations.

Why?

Clean water in India, 24/7? Not a pipe dream anymore

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:44:11 +0000

Small town in Maharashtra shows how India can provide its people with safe water -- around the clock.

Jason Overdorf

Clean water, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, sounds like a pipe dream in New Delhi. But an inspiring new development in small town Maharashtra has proved it can happen, according to the Indian Express.

India as ATM: Do foreign funds drive India's market swings?

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:38:14 +0000

Surprise, surprise: India's market is (declared) red hot again

Jason Overdorf

India is, indeed, one big ATM for foreign institutional investors, it appears, as the Daily Mail trumpets, “Goodbye, Naysayers: Markets on fire.”

Salman Rushdie: India videolink cancelled

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:31:48 +0000

Police say owner of literary festival venue objected to risk to property

Jason Overdorf

Salman Rushdie's videolink address to the Jaipur Literary Festival in Rajasthan was cancelled Tuesday, after protesters swarmed the venue and the owner objected to the risk to the property, NDTV reported.

"It's a great pity for India," said longtime Indophile and former BBC correspondent Mark Tully.

National Girl Child Day highlights problems in India's fight against sex selective abortions

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:35:26 +0000

Incentives designed around cute kids don't change the status of the women they one day become.

Jason Overdorf

It's National Girl Child Day in India, which is a lame way of saying it's the day we're supposed to think about the epidemic of abortions for sex selection – a practice that has resulted in 6 million missing girls. But as at least two thoughtful editorials suggest, the issue is more complicated than the latest government propaganda campaign or most news reports.

As Namita Bhandare writes for the Hindustan Times

Foodistan pits Indian, Pakistani chefs in battle for kitchen supremacy

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:22:46 +0000

"Epic battle" to decide veg or non-veg once and for all.

Jason Overdorf

Foodistan will pit Indian and Pakistan chefs against each other to determine, once and for all, which country makes the best...um... Indian food, according to the BBC.

A reality show slated for India's NDTV Good Times channel -- no relation to Jimmy Walker -- Foodistan will be an "epic battle" between armies of eight chefs from each country. According to one of the hosts:

Uttar Pradesh corruption coverup alleged after fourth mystery death

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:42:42 +0000

A billion dollar scheme to embezzle funds meant for a rural health scheme has resulted in an epidemic of unnatural death

Jason Overdorf

Coverup is the cry, following the fourth mysterious death of a suspect in a billion dollar corruption scandal in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Sunil Verma, a 55-year-old engineer under investigation for his alleged role in the embezzlement of more than a billion dollars from the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself Monday morning. Earlier, two chief medical officers (CMOs) were murdered and a deputy CMO was found dead inside a jail hospital.

Pepsi's India answer: 10 cent Gatorade

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:42:00 +0000

Pepsico's new India chairman is going local to woo the bottom of the pyramid.

Jason Overdorf

Pepsi's India answer is to go more and more local, pushing beyond the conventional solution of smaller, cheaper packages, Forbes India writes in a compelling article on the marketing drive to penetrate the country's massive rural market.

Indian 'right to drinking water' law proposed

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:32:48 +0000

Law would follow Right to Information, Right to Education bills

Jason Overdorf

The right to drinking water may soon be counted as fundamental for all Indians if a bill proposed by the water resources ministry comes to fruition.

Following the same strategy as earlier laws that enshrined the right to information and the right to education, the law would grant citizens the power to sue the government, effectively, for clean water and sanitation, according to the Hindustan Times.

Kashmir Christians persecuted over alleged conversions

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:14:32 +0000

Argentinian soccer coach sees house vandalized

Jason Overdorf

Kashmir's Christians are being persecuted after a local pastor ran afoul of an Islamic court for allegedly using inappropriate inducements to convert Muslims to Christianity.

Jay Leno Golden Temple joke: India files official complaint

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:24:04 +0000

Indian ambassador directed to "take up the matter" with State Department

Jason Overdorf

Jay Leno's Golden Temple joke -- he showed a picture of the Sikh shrine and suggested it might be the summer home of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney -- didn't go over too well with India's minister for building ties with the diaspora.

India's Tampon King update: Low-cost napkins gaining traction

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:37:32 +0000

Inventor's sanitary napkin machine up and running in 600 locations across 23 Indian states

Jason Overdorf

India's Tampon King -- as a GlobalPost editor misnamed inventor Arunachalam Muruganantham when I profiled him awhile back -- is making some progress with his low-cost machine that manufactures sanitary napkins, according to the Guardian.

Salman Rushdie: Lie kept me out of India

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:12:18 +0000

Salman Rushdie says cops lied about terror threat to keep him from attending literary festival.

Jason Overdorf

Salman Rushdie says a police lie kept him out of India for the Jaipur Literary Festival over the weekend -- which is all too likely given the politics behind the controversy.

India to Nepal weapons supply to resume after Chinese premier's visit

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:37:48 +0000

India's weapons deliveries to Nepal were frozen after 2005 coup

Jason Overdorf

India's weapons shipments to Nepal are set to resume, following a profligate list of aid projects proposed during the Chinese premier's visit to Kathmandu last week.

Vodafone: Indian Supreme Court grants $2.5 billion reprieve

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:45:10 +0000

Vodafone reprieve clears India for mergers & acquisitions business

Jason Overdorf

India's Supreme Court granted Vodafone a $2.5 billion reprieve Friday, in a ruling that will ensure that the mergers & acquisitions departments at local banks and law offices remain open for business, NDTV reports.

'Sex selection' blood test will wreak havoc in India

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:35:10 +0000

Hospitals for the poor may be bereft of facilities and overrun with rats, but when it comes to aborting baby girls India always gets the latest technology.

Jason Overdorf

A "sex selection" blood test that will allow prospective parents to learn the gender of their unborn child simply by drawing a little blood from the mother will no doubt prove disastrous for India.

It's a bitter truth. Hospitals for the poor may be bereft of facilities and overrun with rats, but when it comes to aborting baby girls India always gets the latest technology.

India's action movies: 5 things you can learn about India from dishshum, dishshum

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:19:23 +0000

Sometimes nobody gets it right like a clueless foreigner.

Jason Overdorf

India's action movies are not exactly chop-socky. They're more like kung funky. Nobody seems to pay any attention to whether the blows look like they're landing, while somebody off camera makes a noise that sounds like "dishshum, dishshum" to imitate the sound of punches hitting flesh (or wood?).

Soft power: It's culture war for India and China

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:22:00 +0000

China spends billions of dollars on soft power, but India's press is free

Jason Overdorf

Soft power seems to be the new mantra for India and China, as the long-running diplomatic tiff between Asia's two largest powers cools down. But this a contest that India can win with its bureaucrats tied behind its back.

As China scholar Joseph Nye points out:

Unsafe abortions: India ranks badly despite liberal laws

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:07:38 +0000

Two-thirds of Indian patients risk unsafe abortions, says WHO study

Jason Overdorf

Unsafe abortions are the route "chosen" by two-thirds of Indian women, despite the country's liberal laws, according to a new study by the World Health Organization (WHO).

What's the deal?

Oprah Winfrey in India: Bodyguards arrested for scuffle with reporters - UPDATE

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:57:00 +0000

Oprah's education in India continues, this time with the arrest of her bodyguards

Jason Overdorf

Oprah Winfrey's education in the ways of Indian law enforcement continued Thursday, as three of her Indian bodyguards were arrested by police for allegedly "manhandling" journalists, according to Indian media.

India sex murder exposes brutality of politics

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:27:59 +0000

Sex, murder, blackmail -- now Bhanwari Devi's body has been discovered it's she who's on trial

Jason Overdorf

An Indian sex murder has been bumping around the front pages for months now. But it took a smart feminist from India's Communist Party to make it resonate.

Here are the bare bones of the story.

Cow's urine: Indian election manifesto and cancer cure

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:17:58 +0000

Cow's urine, cow dung key to BJP election campaigns

Jason Overdorf

In India, cow's urine is powerful stuff.

It cures cancer, heals injuries, and wins elections. Or so says the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The party has already touted the benefits of cow dung – it blocks radiation, saves houses from earthquakes, and leaps tall buildings in a single bound (with the aid of a powerful catapult) – in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. But now it's looking to the yellow stuff to woo voters in the northern state of Uttarakhand.

What gives?

Indian boy fakes kidnap to avoid exam

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:40:00 +0000

Fake kidnap beats suicide -- which claims thousands of stressed students every year

Jason Overdorf

An Indian boy faked his own kidnapping to avoid an English test this week in Mumbai, the Times of India reports.

What? You thought all Indians were spelling brainiacs?

According to an old report from the same newspaper, nearly 6,000 Indian students have been known to kill themselves to avoid exams, or because of bad results, in a given year. That's 16 kids a day, for those of you without calculators handy.

Totally drug resistant TB panics India

Jason Overdorf — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:19:44 +0000

'Totally drug resistant' is misnomer, says Govt

Jason Overdorf

The “totally drug resistant” tuberculosis outbreak in Mumbai has created panic in India, but the government appears as much concerned with calming people down as it is with addressing the danger.

Indian caste census begins in Delhi

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:39:00 +0000

Caste census intended to streamline welfare programs

Jason Overdorf

India's caste-based census began in New Delhi, with the state's chief minister defending the count as an effort to streamline social welfare programs.

"It is important that these things are evaluated in India to find out which sections are weaker and need to get social justice. This census will help formulate processes in this direction as information is gathered till micro level," the Economic Times quoted Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as saying.

Nationwide, the caste census began in July, to some controversy. On the one hand, some argued that codifying and enumerating India's castes would cement the very forms of discrimination and inequality that the government is seeking to eliminate. While on the other, many argued that it makes no sense to design social programs blindly, that too with a commitment to a cultivated ignorance.

India, China resume stalled border talks

Jason Overdorf — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:11:00 +0000

India, China put Dalai Lama dispute aside

Jason Overdorf

India and China on Monday resumed border talks that were postponed this November in a falling out over New Delhi's refusal to muzzle the Dalai Lama.

In a somewhat ironic but encouraging twist, China's special representative Dai Bingguo, who was originally scheduled to visit India for talks with India's National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon on November 28, said that the two countries are embarking on a “golden period” of good relations, according to CNN/IBN.

In recent days, both India and China have sought to dispel the air of mutual sniping that marked the relationship this summer and fall – when issues like China's supposed incursions on the disputed border and India's support for the Dalai Lama's participation in a Global Buddhist Congregation organized to coincide with Dai's visit raised hackles on both sides.

We'll see how long that lasts, of course.

Statue controversy continues for lower caste Indian leader

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:47:37 +0000

What's behind an Election Commission order to tarp statues of Mayawati?

Jason Overdorf

Government workers in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh are working double-time to try to tarp over some 100 statues of the reigning chief minister and her party's poll symbol, the elephant, reports the Hindustan Times.

Leopard scalps Indian: Behind the scenes

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:28:54 +0000

So, who was snapping photos when a leopard tore off the guy's hair?

Jason Overdorf

Chances are you've already seen the viral "leopard scalps man" photos from Guwahati, Assam. That's not a hairpiece folks! But that's not the end of the bad news for the unfortunate victim.

At least one Indian paper ran his picture again today, along with a story about one of the leopard victims who "succumbed to injuries" yesterday. So now he's hairless, in pain, and fielding calls from friends and relatives who think he died. You thought YOU hated Mondays.

India's snakebite deaths reveal health care shortcomings

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:17:13 +0000

If the cobra doesn't kill you, the failings of the health system will

Jason Overdorf

Snakebite kills 50,000 Indians a year, but the deadly venom isn't the only thing you have to worry about, Shahina KK writes in a revealing article for this week's OPEN.

It's just as likely that you'll get to the hospital to find that they don't have any anti-venom, or it's not the right kind, or the facility doesn't have the right equipment needed to clean your blood.

India plans $4 billion jobs program for urban poor

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:47:45 +0000

With eye to upcoming elections, program would expand employment guarantee to the cities

Jason Overdorf

With economists calling for belt-tightening to arrest the widening deficit, the Indian government is considering a plan to expand the popular national rural employment guarantee scheme to include the urban poor, the Hindustan Times reports.

India-China border talks next week

Jason Overdorf — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:10:49 +0000

India keen to check adversarial tone of recent interactions

Jason Overdorf

India-China border talks that were scuttled because of a dispute over the Dalai Lama in November will be held next week, the Times of India reports.

Both Beijing and New Delhi apparently hope to temper the adversarial tone of recent exchanges, the paper said.

Dai Bingguo, China's special representative, will be in Delhi next week for another round of boundary talks with national security adviser Shivshankar Menon.

Indian Supreme Court orders trial for parents of murdered teen

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:53:06 +0000

Ruling ends parents' efforts to win dismissal

Jason Overdorf

India's Supreme Court ruled Friday that the parents of New Delhi teenager Aarushi Talwar must stand trial for her murder, supporting a lower court's finding against the couple's motion for dismissal.

The ruling sets the stage for another round of media circus, despite the glacial pace of the Indian justice system, as one of the most talked about crimes in India over the past decade moves toward a verdict.

Here's the recap from The Hindu:

China releases 12 Indian diamond traders held for smuggling

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:41:29 +0000

Jason Overdorf

China released 12 Indian diamond traders it had arrested for alleged smuggling two years ago. They arrived in India around 2 a.m. Friday morning and were greeted with hugs from friends and relatives at the Mumbai airport, reports the Hindustan Times.

The 12 traders were part of a group of 22 diamond merchants arrested by Chinese customs in Shenzhen in January 2010 for allegedly attempting to smuggle diamonds into the mainland from Hongkong.

Indian food inflation turns negative, signaling possible rate cut

Jason Overdorf — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:30:55 +0000

FinMin says easing interest rates could bring back growth

Jason Overdorf

Food prices fell in India for the first time in more than a year during the week ended December 24, setting the stage for the central bank to ease interest rates and stimulate India's flagging economic growth rate.

According to official data released on Thursday, food inflation for the week ended December 24 turned negative to (-) 3.36 percent, India Today reported. The overall inflation numbers for December will be available next week.

Ford EcoSport launch signals new India focus

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:18:00 +0000

Company will spend $142 million to revamp Chennai plant to build green SUV

Jason Overdorf

In another signal that the company has woken up to the potential of the Indian automobile market, Ford Motor Co. unveiled another "global model" to be made and sold in India next year. The Times of India says this means that India is a key cog in Ford's turnaround strategy:

Indian beef ban is shameful use of religion to incite hatred

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:56:00 +0000

A new law, ostensibly to protect the "holy cow," is a stick to beat Muslims with, argues Javed Anand

Jason Overdorf

Indian Express columnist Javed Anand identifies the serious issue behind a central Indian state's law promising seven years hard time for anybody caught eating beef:

India's Hazare scraps plans to campaign against Congress

Jason Overdorf — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:28:30 +0000

'Team Anna' cites the activist's failing health

Jason Overdorf

Further to the failings of India's anti-corruption movement, supporters of Anna Hazare announced that the activist would not be traveling to Uttar Pradesh to participate in the campaigning for state elections next month, reports the BBC.

The serial hunger striker, aged 74, was admitted to hospital in Pune due to complications related to chest congestion, the news channel said.