The Hypocrisy of the Indian Leftists #47, One of my close friends lost his admission in medical school by a mark- mind you less than 1/10 of a percent. (In Maharashtra admissions to Medical school are based on merits. There`s no separate entrance exam.) His crime.. he was a bumman.
We knew another girl in our acquaintance. Father on a high post in govt. Went to best (and expensive) school in city. Could afford two private tuitions from top notch faculty. Scored full five percent less than the bar. Got admitted in the med school. Her advantage.... her father is Adiwasi.
Like some one said below, the real beneficiaries of the quota system are urban elite who happen to have the benefit of being born to BC parents.

The Hypocrisy of the Indian Leftists All I request is these quota doctors should be made to work in rural areas. Mandetory period. If you depend on govt. handouts you have a duty towards the masses.

Revathy Gopal: RIP Sad news indeed. My sincere condolences to Revati`s family. May her soul rest in peace.

What is it going to take to have a Clean Bombay? ``Perhaps decongestion is the only way one can bring about some form of cleanliness, moving people away from the city and expanding , Vashi, Nerul... etc and constructing better links to the mainland. Otherwise the statistics are mindboggling. 20 million people can generate a lot of garbage. ``

Good Point.

What is it going to take to have a Clean Bombay? #26, Nope. Amchi Mumbai hum kabhi nahin chhodenge. :)

What is it going to take to have a Clean Bombay? Give MHADA chance. Demolish all illegal construction, raze slums and convert the sale it to commercial interests and with that income settle the existing residents in new apartment buildings (this offer should one time opportunity and any later illegal construction should be deemed criminal activity) Stop rampant immigration of poor and destitute from other parts to come to Mumbai and over burden the limited resources. This is not an asylum for the homeless it is a functioning city and has its limits.

Religious Tourism `` the real beneficiaries of this should be Pakistani Hindus and Sikhs, who are more patriotic than any Pakistani Muslim ``

That`s a tall claim Manto.

Indian Shuakat Aziz and Pakistani Manmohan Singh What the.......

Pataudi’s Plight : The game of religious stereo typing Shantanu Dutta is a Bengali sounding name.

Pataudi’s Plight : The game of religious stereo typing I agree. We all are guilty of stereotyping. It`s a human nature to mentally segregate objects or people into different compartment and label them. It`s pattern searching. Outward expressions of your convictions, like wearing religious symbols just makes it more easy to categories a person.

Why Assam to be Asom? Pune, and Mumbai are correct pronunciations of those cities

Saddam: The Butcher of Baghdad and the Shame of Mesopotamia Judging by the difficulty Allied powers have at keeping Iraq united, Saddam appears to have done a splendid job. May be he was pulled out of rat hole but you have to grant him that he died like a man.

In the Line of Fire, A Review His daughter`s name is Ayla!! :D

A Lovers’ Quarrel with Airport Profiling Neverthless, it was a fun read.

A Lovers’ Quarrel with Airport Profiling Funny you say that. I end up in security line more than my muslim friend. I wonder why??

Let us do away with Kashmir Mazhar you are giving too much importance to Kashmir. Kashmir or not, the fact that two nations will be at odds with each other is granted. They were founded on different ideologies after all. I really don`t want to discuss this here; and frankly, I am not erudite enough to comment on that topic.
My only argument is that the wish of the `people of the land` should be fulfilled. They are the original inhabitants of (or at least the form a majority in) Kashmir valley and their opinion about their destiny should be respected. The majority of Kashmiri`s never felt being part of India and as far as my rudimentary knowledge on this subject goes Kashmir had a special status in Indian Union.
Whatever the geo-political and historic realities, the fact remains that after independence India annexed the `Hindu` majority` kingdoms, where a Muslim was a ruler. The same gesture should have been accorded to Kashmir where majority was Muslim. And they don`t wish to remain in Indian union.
Nations cannot run on military might alone. Even super powers like America has been humbled a couple of times against smaller but determined opponents. The sooner we learn this the better off we will be in the future.