manedge

The dethroning of the BJP in Karnataka has lessons for all political parties via-a-vis the next Lok Sabha elections. Corruption is an issue to the common voter. Despite having taken the moral high ground of parting ways with a tainted Yedyurappa, BJP's decision to replace Sadanand Gowda with Jagdish Shettar due to pressure from Yedyurappa did not go well with the electorate. BJP also failed to act swiftly in getting rid of Yedyurappa. The Congress, facing umpteen corruption charges, needs to be on its guard. Though the Anna movement may have been scuttled, the imprint of the same on the voter's mind remains as is evident from the results in Karnataka. So the next Lok Sabha elections will be the voter's response to inaction on corruption. The BJP is hardly comfortable on this front what with its President having to go. But at least the BJP is taking action. However it will have to set its house in order, particularly on the leadership issue to take any advantage of an a...

The last five months have been perhaps the toughest of my life. Pitch-forked into a job I badly dislike, away from family and friends, and also form children whom I so much love and miss at SSS-10. The separation from these children was heart-wrenching. My two kids too are at a crucial phase of their student career. They need me more than any other time. I must blame my own 'visibility' for this assignment which is more of a sham than anything else. But then who cares. In these past few months I have passed through stages of depression, disbelief, doubt, what not. My self-confidence has taken a beating. At times I find myself tentative. Perhaps I have been worrying too much about pressures from people who are not accountable. But I have not given up. I couldn't afford to give up. The project is high-profile, being monitored by top people in my organisation. It is necessary that I do justice to my own self and reputation by not letting go. So things have moved, ev...

A Very Very Special cricketer has finally decided to call it quits. He could have easily gone on to play the two Tests against the Kiwis. But his decision is quite timely. Sourav Ganguly is unnecessary trying to give vent feelings to his own frustrations at this moment. The last eight Tests - 4 each against England and Australia had been his worst streak. An average of less than 20 in 16 ininngs as India kept on losing Test after Test should have prompted him to retire may be soon after returning from Australia, just like Dravid. Dravid had scored back to back hundreds in England but struggled through the Aussie tour. Criticism is what all players have to endure. Laxman and Dravid have had to live through that as they were dumped from the ODI team even though Dravid did have a great one-day career. Laxman was simply not cut out for that version of cricket. In 2008, Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the Rest of India team for the Irani Trophy with the selectors clearly indicati...

Team ConQuest –a team of 16 dedicated teachers from 10 schools of BSP’s Education department is all set to instil in young Class-7 students of all the English Medium Middle Schools (EMMSs) the spirit of excellence through a novel initiative. Approximately 1050 students from eleven EMMSs have appeared in a Proficiency Test on 18th January 2012. This is the first step in their grooming for the future, as they gear up for the prestigious National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) in November this year. Through a series of tests, throughout the year, the Education department of BSP hopes to prepare a selected group of sincere, dedicated and enthusiastic learners, who will have imbibed the quest for excellence for their entire life. The programme is an offshoot of the Education department’s Specialised NTSE Guidance Programme for Class-8 students. It began in October 2010 with a team of five subject experts, led by Dr. Hemant Pandey, Professor, Hislop College, Nagpur , conducting the firs...

The seventh successive defeat abroad is the time to act. And this should not be limited to sacking the players in their late 30s. A more coordinated and sincere effort is the need of the hour. Let us have a look at India's top cricketers' schedule since the World Cup win. It was followed by IPL-4. Then the team played the West Indies in the Carribeans. The Tests were followed by ODIs. Within 5 days of finishing the ODI series in the West Indies, India landed up in England. After a 3-day game they plunged into 4 Tests and kept on losing. Injury to key players who had not missed the lucrative IPL earlier was given as the reason. The series in England ended with the ODIs, which England won 3-0 thanks to D/L. Immediately thereafter the English team travelled to India for a 5-match ODI series. Then we played 3 Tests against the Windies with Ashwin running them over. The Test series was followed by 5 ODIs. Instead the tour should have been so planned that India would have played ...