The Lalit Blog

  Lalit Shastri In my formative years, I was but a third-grader, and my elder brother had a lead on me by a couple of classes. Our father, affectionately known as "Babuji," was a firm believer in discipline. His demanding career claimed most of his week, often spilling over into our precious weekends. It was on one rare Sunday that Babuji ventured off to his office, leaving us behind. In his absence, our steadfast domestic help, Puran, wielded his powers of persuasion to convince my brother and me to indulge in a midday matinee at the nearby cinema. The film was scheduled from noon to 3 pm, and, to our surprise, we found Babuji anxiously pacing the front-verandah upon our return. As I, who was a few steps ahead of my brother, approached him, he cut to the chase, demanding to know our whereabouts. Without a moment's hesitation, I stammered, "Babuji, we went to watch a film." Initial anger gripped Babuji as he probed further, "Which film?" My response, ...

Lalit Shastri Deepak Tiwari, a former Madhya Pradesh Correspondent of The Week, now prefers to be introduced not as a seasoned journalist and political commentator but as an ex-Vice Chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, an office he held for a short duration when Kamalnath was the State Chief Minister. With the advantage of hindsight, he has written a piece published on the front page of Dainik Bhaskar on 13 October 2023. In it he writes: "भाजपा की यह सरकार अपने प्रसिद्ध नारे 'भाजपा का कहना साफ, हर किसान का कर्ज माफ' पर चुनी गई थी। जब कर्ज माफी की बात नई सरकार के सामने खड़ी हुई, तब पता चला कि सरकार के पास इतना पैसा है ही नहीं।" (The BJP was elected to power on its popular farmers' 'Loan waiver' slogan. But when the government was confronted with the challenge of meeting it's electoral promise , it realised that it did not have the resources to meet this end). Tiwari's observation in the above piece ...

 The Hindu  Lalit Shastri BHOPAL FEBRUARY 02, 2000 00:00 IST BHOPAL, FEB. 1. The Central Government has expressed concern over reports relating to the violation of the Forest and Wildlife Acts and the declining quality of management of the Protected Areas, which include the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, in Madhya Pradesh. According to a reliable source, the Central Government representatives, who had accompanied a team from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), on a field visit to the State earlier this week, were very critical of the `computerised' presentation by the director of the Kanha National Park, Mr. Rajesh Gopal and his colleagues. Inquiries revealed that Rajesh Gopal-led show aided by the forest department staff from the Pench and Panna National Parks, did not reflect the problems of poaching and field administration but only dramatised that all was well with the Protected Areas in the State. However ...

Lalit Shastri Upon returning from Italy in December 2022 It won't be long before Europe is completely Arabised. The burqa or the hijab will dominate the streets, and Sharia law will replace all the democratic institutions and laws that were built over centuries around human rights and an inclusive society. Europe is doomed—I can see the writing on the wall. Wait and watch: the Italians will regret it just as much as the Germans, Dutch, French, Belgians, and British will in the coming years. They have opened the floodgates for Bangladeshi migrant workers to fill the gap created by the reluctance of young native Italians to take up low-paid jobs in the infrastructure sector. Beyond forming a major part of the workforce needed for road and construction industries, the Bangladeshis have also taken over the weekly flea markets, not only in crowded tourist places like Venice but also in small towns in the northern Alps of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region. Europe is already doomed, with n...

International Tiger Day and the tale of tumbling numbers

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Can the nation allow nurturing of an extra-constitutional authority?