Decoding a Decade: The Politics of Policymaking

The Case for a hard line on terrorism highlights how nothing has changed since the Mumbai train blasts of 2006 till date. Isn’t it time India got rid of its image as a wimp nation? Was President Pratibha Patil, who commuted the death sentence of 19 and rejected 3, diffident about capital punishment for religious reasons ? Did President Kalam say that there was a social and economic bias in the award of capital punishment ? The article Rebooting democracy suggests that voting on the Internet may be a solution for the super-inflated egos of the educated elite who consider it below their dignity to stand in the polling booth line. Manish Tewari’s articles reflect various trends, issues and events in domestic and international arena and expose the underbelly of Indian politics. A Faustian bargain questions whether the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal actually protects our national interest with Indian money paying for a nuclear accident in India. China’s art of wars outlines China’s use of cartography to subdue the enemy without fighting. How China issued a map showing Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin and parts of Karakoram tracts as integral parts of China. The attempted mutilation of the movie Udta Punjab highlights the draconian powers vested in the Censor Board that drive filmmakers around the bend. What if Germany, Austria, Greece and Italy set up controls on their borders to stop the inflow of refugees? Fortress Europe explores the possibility of the multitudes turning eastwards to land up at our Wagah border.