Arun Shourie
Showing all 11 books
The life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa ‘enables us to see God face to face’, Gandhiji wrote. Similarly, when someone in his circle was distraught, the Mahatma sent him to spend time at the Ashram of Ramana Maharshi. The Paramahamsa and the Maharshi have been among the greatest spiritual figures of our country. They have transformed the lives of and have been a solace to millions. Their peak, mystic experience is what we yearn to have. But what if several ...
How did India respond to the terrorist assault on Mumbai? Why does it never have any option when such assaults occur? How real is the threat from China, what should India do to brace itself for it? Will Pakistan deflect the terrorists it has spawned back into India? What should be the contours of our defence policy?
Do judges merely enforce and interpret the law? Or do they at times interpolate words into statutes, even into the Constitution? Where does interpretation end and rewriting commence? The failure of other institutions to discharge their duty has compelled courts to step far outside their traditional role. In doing so, have they stretched the law and Constitutions too far? Has their intervention been effective? Or have they run the risk of compounding cynicism? ...
Tarnish every person, institution, period from which people may derive pride, confidence/ascribe tolerance, Magnanimity to the intolerant/portray the inclusive, open tradition as the one out to swellow others, and the exclusivist, totalitarian ideology as the ideology of abroad-mindedness, of peace, tolerance/denounce as ‘Communal’ anyone who demands proof/blame victims for the consequences of the ideology of the ...
Can officers use red or green ink on files? A simple question, you may think. But in government it is enough to set off meetings, letters, references to other ministries that stretch over a year. . . A tree false on to the house of the Indian High Commissioner; memos fly to and fro, and for nine years government cogitates and deliberates, and weighs pros and cons, unable to decide who is to repair the house, and how. . . From such trifles to matters that spell ...
The book which has reopened questions. Did Ambedkar coordinate his opposition to the freedom struggle with the British? How does his approach to social return contrast with that of those who actually wrought revolutions - Gandhiji, Narayan Guru? Did the Constitution spring from him or did it grow as a living organism?
With 99 per cent of legislators getting elected by a minority of electors: with scores of them getting elected on 15-20 per cent of the votes cast-that is, by 7-10 per cent of the population, how representative is our parliamentary system? Does the present system not induce political parties to go on splintering our people? Can the country cohere when the people are splintered? Are those in government accountable to Parliament? Or are they the government ...