Thursday, 20 December 2012

Passionate About India: Paralysed courts are facilitating perverts to rape...

Passionate About India: Paralysed courts are facilitating perverts to rape...

Massive scams, election booth rigging through muscle power, murders in broad daylight and rapes of women on streets, in complete disregard of law and almost daring it... each of these is possible continuously and blatantly only due to one reason – the paralyzed judiciary of our country. It’s not the dearth of law but the dearth of the hand of law reaching the criminal, goon, politician, scamster and rapist. Who is scared of the law of the land? Not any of them. It’s the simple man – whose daughter is being raped and money being eaten away by corrupt politicians and other scamsters – who is afraid of the law and lives under an illusion that law exists in this country... till his daughter is shot dead in public and he dies running from pillar to post being squashed under the mesh of dates that have kept the judiciary in India dysfunctional and paralyzed. The average case takes about two decades to be solved and the person fighting for his rights is killed by our judicial system in any case unless he dies in reality as well. 

Thursday, 13 December 2012

Typos: WHAT’S THE POINT OF IT?

Typos: WHAT’S THE POINT OF IT?:  

So where are you off to this winter? Is it going to be a sunny beach resort or a chalet on the lip of snow-white mountain? Or are you going to a national park to look up Mr. Stripes and check on his health? In case you’re still wondering, here, let me help… 

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: E-MORAL SCIENCES

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: E-MORAL SCIENCES:  

At the disposal of the government wonks to curb problem are certain laid down cyber laws circling Information Technology Act, 2000. The IT laws in the country are protected by harshest of punishments sweeping through the legal bindings for anybody daring to flout it, including children and juvenile students. The measure up of the legal actions that can be initiated against the perpetrators of cybercrimes can be with a fine up to Rs 1 crore or up to 10 years of imprisonment. Th at talks as loudly as possible of imminent danger that young students are susceptible to regarding their misadventure that is often a figment of young blood verve than cold-blooded crime endeavour. Therefore introducing and comprehensive explaining of cyber laws’ details should be the first priority of education bureaucrats to insulate the adolescent sorcery with internet rather than ruining their career.

Passionate About India: How patents are anti-poor and are harming essentia...

Passionate About India: How patents are anti-poor and are harming essentia...:    

Come Diwali, the greatest Indian celebration, and a considerable number of people all over the country get burns and many die of burn-related injuries. One doesn’t realise the gravity of the situation till tragedy strikes at one’s doorstep. This Diwali, a small diya kept near a staircase, in twenty seconds straight, had my aunt (my brother-in-law and fellow TSI columnist Prashanto Bannerjee’s mother) in its deadly wrap. She, being a neighbour since my childhood, is perhaps closer to me than are any of my real aunts. Despite her saree being made of cotton, and despite my brother-in-law noticing the burning saree instantly and putting off the flames with buckets of water within twenty seconds, she got 65% burns – and at 72 years of age, that is dangerous... very dangerous! When we reached Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi – where we finally admitted her – the doctor told us that if she had been of Prashanto’s age, 36, he would have given her only a 20% chance of survival with the 3rd degree burns that she had. But then, there’s a small background story to all this. Prashanto’s mother was actually taken initially to Max Super Speciality Hospital. To our surprise, we were told by Max doctors to get her admitted somewhere else since they didn’t treat burn injuries… The quick research we did after our visit to Max gave us a shocking statistic. In Delhi, the capital of India, there are only two hospitals capable of treating burn injuries. Other hospitals in fact don’t even admit burn victims! And being Diwali, Safdarjung Hospital, the only hospital other than Apollo for burn victims, was expected to be very crowded. If Delhi has only two, then you can imagine how many hospitals does the average Indian city have that handle burn injuries – none!  

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Passionate About India: Could the China-Japan tensions initiate an economi...

Passionate About India: Could the China-Japan tensions initiate an economi...:
Just a couple of months back, the entire global media fraternity was talking about the next probable war between China and Japan over the issue of a small group of islands in the East China Sea. Just when people thought that the issue was cooling down, last month, a delegation of former US officials submitted a report to Hillary Clinton that the dispute could spin out of control and result into a military confrontation; add to that China’s recently declared intentions to deploy marine surveillance drones to track maritime activity around the cluster of islands from where the conflict originated. The entire issue is certainly far from over, with both the nations in no mood to step back.......Read More:

Sutanu Guru: UNDERESTIMATING THE INDIAN VOTER AGAIN AND AGAIN A...

Sutanu Guru: UNDERESTIMATING THE INDIAN VOTER AGAIN AND AGAIN A...:

The so called mainstream media is at it again – making a fool of itself and displaying unending contempt for the native intelligence of the Indian voter. Once again, we are being told by pundits and sycophantic and servile courtiers masquerading as columnists that the Congress and the UPA have got their mojo back and look set to win the Lok Sabha elections due in 2014. The reasons offered are many. For one, the BJP is in a mess and has failed to capitalize on the serial scams haunting the Congress since 2010. Then again, the voter is wary of a rag tag Third or Fourth Front government propped up by outside support and will reluctantly vote again for the Congress.

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Typos: THE SWINGER'S CLUB

Typos: THE SWINGER'S CLUB:

But every blue moon and green, the old days and the river call out to him and so we pack our bags for the holy city by the holy Ganges. Varanasi is not what it used to be when he was a young boy. There are more people, fewer cows, more cars and not as many rickshaws but the banks… the banks, he says, have remained the same through the years.

Read More...

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: ATM PIN GOES PUBLIC

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: ATM PIN GOES PUBLIC:

The government of late has resorted to recovery work by enacting statutes that will protect customers’ interest. Some lukewarm regulations were enacted under Information Technology Act, 2000 to monitor over the online financial fraudulent, and later on Reserve Bank of India introduced guidelines in 2001 emphasizing the consumer data confidentiality could not alleviate their security related fears to a large extent.

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Thursday, 29 November 2012

Typos: BEAR WITH US, PLEASE…

Typos: BEAR WITH US, PLEASE…:
Land of the tiger? Yeah ok… Land of the tiger too, but is the Royal Bengal Tiger our largest, most imposing predator? Well, not really… That crown sits not on the head of the tiger. Nay, it isn’t even the regal and mighty Asiatic lion but the massive head of a giant that lumbers his way across the mountain slopes of the high Himalayas, way above the tree line that wears this crown. More than seven feet tall and weighing in at close to 300 kgs, the Himalayan brown bear towers over its other more media friendly predatory rivals. But of all the thousands who flock to the tiger reserves with their shiny new SLRs, and XL camouflage jackets, trussed up in their luxury resort jeeps and SUVs, how many have ever trekked up to the mountains to catch a glimpse of this magnificent monster? In my defence, I must insist that I did go up to Gushaini, the gateway to the Great Himalayan National Park where walks this great beast, but circumstances stopped me from pursuing the tracks of this giant then… But I will go back!...............
 

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK!

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK!: The debate on subsidy on diesel price never seems to reach a consensus. On one hand, diesel subsidies are important to keep food prices and transport prices under check, while on the other hand, this subsidy is being exploited by luxury car owners and owners of commercial hubs. In simple words, tax paid by the aam adami which is meant for societal development is latently being directed as subsidies to industrialists and rich business houses! Thus it becomes far more important for the government to either come up with a differential pricing system or some other model which categorises these two different set of users under two different price bands.......

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Thursday, 22 November 2012

Passionate About India: Will the Supreme Court please clearly define the t...

Passionate About India: Will the Supreme Court please clearly define the t...:


This article is not about Shiv Sena bashing, because enough people are doing that; and personally, I can’t imagine how Mumbai could have possibly had a normal day on the streets when two million of its citizens were genuinely mourning the death of the Shiv Sena supremo, Balasaheb Thackeray. In fact, before I get into the main article, let me also first say a few things about the Mumbai bandh and the Balasaheb legacy of absolutist fear. Yes, post his death, the fear factor was surely there... and that was a key reason why, even without a formally announced bandh, there was a total bandh in Mumbai. Yes, I also believe that the rest of Maharashtra should have been more normal. However, it is also a fact that this vexing fear that we are talking about and such quasi-bandhs are not really the monopoly of Shiv Sainiks. Bangalore was at a standstill when Rajkumar died a few years ago; there have been bandhs and equal fear of SP goons in UP, and far more fear, door to door, all over West Bengal about CPM goons; and now the same insidious mantle is steadily being taken up by importunate Trinamool party cadres. In India, hero worship is a culture and the loud existence and fear of suppressive political goons almost a pathetic norm in every corner of the nation. What was however very different about Balasaheb Thackeray was that he was the only leader that we have seen – in the midst of all hypocrites and chameleons – who, as my colleague Sutanu wrote in his blog, was always perspicuously consistent. BJP leaders will agree; they have seen all bigwigs – from Omar Abdullah, Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik, Prafulla Mahanta, M. Karunanidhi, Chandrababu Naidu, Ram Vilas Paswan to J. Jayalalithaa – change sides from being BJP allies at one time, while Balasaheb, along with the Akali Dal, remained their only constant partners. Thus, his cult following has quite strong reasons, and it’s a fact that the so called secular media has been harsher about the Shiv Sainik goons than about the Samajwadi and so called secular Marxist goons.


Typos: BRAVEHEARTS AGAINST THE APOCALYPSE

Typos: BRAVEHEARTS AGAINST THE APOCALYPSE:


While the country celebrated the hanging of a villain who murdered innocents, I had mixed feelings about the news of Kasab’s execution. It seemed like it was the right path, the only path in fact, and yet one wondered if there could have been a path more right than this. I don’t have the answer yet and so I leave you with my thoughts from the day when Ajmal Amir Kasab was still a gun-toting specter haunting the streets of Mumbai... a story from four years ago that celebrates and remembers those who stared down death so that many could hang on to life through those four fateful days... Until i find my feelings and the answers.  


COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: IITF IS STILL AN INFANT

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: IITF IS STILL AN INFANT:


The importance of trade fairs has never been so profound. The recent IITF 2012 opened the gates for budding as well as established enterprises to showcase their products and services that eventually allows them to display and project their services not only to their potential customers but to the entire region at large. The power of trade fairs notwithstanding, it is fascinating to delve into its genesis that dates back to the medieval era in Europe. Since then, its impact has grown from strength to strength through the industrial revolution in Britain and Europe and later in North America. The trade fairs, in fact, became the face of industrial revolution that reflected its vitality and showcased the same to the world.  

Thursday, 15 November 2012

Passionate About India: Lessons on inner-party democracy from the American...

Passionate About India: Lessons on inner-party democracy from the American...:
 Today, India is at a critical juncture with all socio-economic as well as political ills engulfing the nation from almost all possible directions. Starting from a series of bribery scams that are being exposed, to our plummeting ranks in almost all economic indicators – everything corroborates the hope for the rise of a fourth front (considering the third front still exists and is potent) in the form of Arvind Kejriwal’s political debut with India Against Corruption, along with an emerging coterie of social activists, who are gradually morphing the political landscape and are all collectively reshaping the political couture of the nation..... Click here to read more:

The Fascinating World of Marketing: DO YOU HAVE MUSCLES FOR MICROMARKETING?

The Fascinating World of Marketing: DO YOU HAVE MUSCLES FOR MICROMARKETING?:



Bharti Airtel handles around 8 billion calls daily generating humongous amount of data. Based on this it has divided its customers into nearly 100,000 segments to whom it offers customised products based on their usage pattern. Right now it is working to provide at least three services to each customer, to improve stickiness, working on the insight that customers for multiple services tend to stay on longer than single service users. Further, due to call drops it was facing the problem of churn. At nearly 40% it was a huge number. When it analysed the data it found that a customer was most likely to switch to another service provider if six or more calls dropped in a day. So a software was developed that offers customers free SMSes after the sixth call drop.  


The Fascinating World of Marketing: DO YOU HAVE MUSCLES FOR MICROMARKETING?

The Fascinating World of Marketing: DO YOU HAVE MUSCLES FOR MICROMARKETING?:



Bharti Airtel handles around 8 billion calls daily generating humongous amount of data. Based on this it has divided its customers into nearly 100,000 segments to whom it offers customised products based on their usage pattern. Right now it is working to provide at least three services to each customer, to improve stickiness, working on the insight that customers for multiple services tend to stay on longer than single service users. Further, due to call drops it was facing the problem of churn. At nearly 40% it was a huge number. When it analysed the data it found that a customer was most likely to switch to another service provider if six or more calls dropped in a day. So a software was developed that offers customers free SMSes after the sixth call drop.  


Business is Marketing: BOOTSTRAP YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS!

Business is Marketing: BOOTSTRAP YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS!:


This little boy used to walk barefoot to school. He used to sit on the floor in the classroom, as he was not allowed to sit on the desk; neither could he enter the temple of his village, for he was considered ‘unclean’ because he belonged to a lower caste. Ashok Khade is today a multi-millionaire who has Arabs as his business partners. A poor cobbler’s son, he had no money. He could barely finish his college and in spite of being a good student, he had to drop out and take up a job as an apprentice draftsman at the Mazagon Dock. His dreams of becoming a doctor were shattered, but he continued to work hard and became the best draftsman in the company. One day, his boss sent him to Germany for work. There, he chanced to see the paychecks of the Germans and was shocked to find how much they made in a month. This motivated him to work harder. 



Wednesday, 14 November 2012

Typos: AND BUDDHA CRIED

Typos: AND BUDDHA CRIED:

Sometimes we need a jolt to wake up, to stay good and to be strong. And then we need people to hold us tight through these tests, to remind us of our goodness when the mirror fails to point out any... Here’s a jolt from the vault that helped one find one’s inherent goodness. May both the lessons and the people who hold us tight through these jolts live long and live strong... 


COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: GRAFT THE DRAFT MANIFESTO

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: GRAFT THE DRAFT MANIFESTO:


Unlike many post-colonial nations, which have descended to dictatorships or sham democracies, India has sustained to a reasonably stable democracy unhindered since independence. However, the success of the very same democracy in India would raise numerous eye brows if benchmarked against the best examples of it. Certain basic deficiencies in the country’s social and political dynamics have never allowed the nation to maintain a free and fair democratic setup.

Read More........

Thursday, 8 November 2012

Passionate About India: Why BJP can't afford to lose Gadkari!

Passionate About India: Why BJP can't afford to lose Gadkari!:
 
That Congress is digging its own grave is too apparent. That it is a party full of unbelievably corrupt is also something that is established in public perception. And that win-or-lose, Arvind Kejriwal has been the man responsible for giving the maximum dent to Congress’ image in its entire history is also established! However, what is most amusing is how, during this entire fall and fall of Congress in public perception, BJP has remained a mute spectator, gaining nothing out of the whole issue.

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Typos: AN EDEN IN MY BACKYARD

Typos: AN EDEN IN MY BACKYARD:

The dragonfly flapped its transparent iridescent wings with a slow deliberate jerk, like the early swivel of a chopper’s rotator blades before taking off while I zoomed in carefully. Its dark head and bulbous eyes grew bigger and closer in the view finder. As the focus rim turned, the image grew clearer… There she was, holding onto a tall stalk by the bank, basking in the soft warm light of a November morn and then I clicked, and she was gone, buzzing her way along the bank in search of a corner where a man with a camera would not pry into her morning duties.  

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: JOBS APART

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: JOBS APART:

As against the conventional wisdom of building a service career as a permanent employee, corporates are increasingly rolling out part time jobs and the employees are only too happy to lap it up. It’s developing into a trend that is evolving at the speed of light speed which is benefitting both employers and employees. The informal workers in the organised companies have risen from a moderate 32 per cent in 2000 to a most expansive 68 per cent in 2010. The figure of part-time workers’ growth in 2009 was over 10 per cent and in 2010 the figure settled at 18 per cent! It shows the lucre that goes with the proposition of temporary jobs, a trend that is ever rising in most of the developing countries, according to the World Development Report, a publication wing of World Bank.  

Thursday, 1 November 2012

Passionate About India: It just takes one Arvind Kejriwal! Sadly, there is...

Passionate About India: It just takes one Arvind Kejriwal! Sadly, there is...:

 Arvind Kejriwal’s series of attacks reminds me of a tale by Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, where two weavers design a new attire for the emperor that, they tell the emperor, will be only visible to those who are honest and loyal. The emperor subsequently dons the ‘attire’ to test his subjects’ loyalty, much to the amusement of his citizenry. Arvind Kejriwal, like the child who laughed at the emperor and dared to shout that the emperor is actually parading naked, is ripping out the false masks from the faces of many such self-proclaimed political and corporate emperors and has dared to show their real faces to the world.

Click Here to Read More.....

Typos: FAITH IN THE FALLEN

Typos: FAITH IN THE FALLEN:

 Today, Armstrong the cyclist, even with his seven titles intact can’t hold a candle to Lance the humanitarian and cancer fighter. The former just doesn’t matter and nor is he half as relevant as the latter. To shun and shame and attempt to destroy the Livestrong movement just because cycling’s governing body suddenly suffered a bout of wakeful action is worse than throwing the baby out with the bath water. The Livestrong band is a symbol of solidarity in our fight against cancer, and it’s a symbol that has been instrumental in raising millions for a cause. There was no cheating there. There was no lie there. So stop tearing that down and if you took it off in shame, put it back on… the world still needs Livestrong.

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Wednesday, 31 October 2012

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: WELCOME STARBUCKS

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: WELCOME STARBUCKS:

What the retail giants like Wal-Mart can do is a vertical integration in the supply chain, and there by choking the middlemen’s involvement from the system. It is already noticed from certain regions of the country, where deep pocket corporates like Reliance and ITC operate, that farmers have benefited from the organised retail giants’ venture. The model has succeeded because the organised retail has sourced the agricultural produce directly from farmers, which allowed them, to pay the farmers more than what the middlemen could have paid. It is often argued by the people opposed to it that the MNCs would require large farms and thus neglecting small farmers, or the retailers can leave a farmer for better opportunities, even flouting the contract with the farmers. In any of the cases the farmers are not really met with adverse effects. The moot point that is missing with the opposition is that in imperfect distribution channels the benefits of farm products’ price rise are mostly hushed up by the middlemen depriving the farmers completely on the financial gains. 

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Thursday, 25 October 2012

Passionate About India: The unfortunate social costs of Coalgate and such ...

Passionate About India: The unfortunate social costs of Coalgate and such ...:
India’s scams and corruption are perennially ubiquitous – they keep recurring time and again. There is hardly a month that goes unnoticed without any major scam breaking out. It is not that there isn’t any scam elsewhere, but barring some sub-Saharan and Asian rogue states ruled by the junta, the scale and magnitude of Indian scams have outperformed every other nation by an unprecedented margin of frequency and scale. Typically, a scam exposé starts off with media frenzy and then gets lost into thin air! The typical Indian middle class’ short memories, inevitably brushes the scam off, and then the judiciary typically bails out the accused, and everything is business as usual. Even though media spotlight continues on the case for a while, the same mostly focuses on the economic aspect of it, largely ignoring the enormous social impact. Mostly, the multi-million dollar scams that prop up every now and then have huge negative externalities both at the regional and national level.       Click here to Read More

Typos: THE PRICE OF FAITH

Typos: THE PRICE OF FAITH:

Much water has flowed past the banks of the Yamuna since I last wrote this, and yet not a lot over here... no, that would be unfair, but yes, definitely not enough has changed since.

Undoubtedly, there are more who care and more who know and understand about all that I have to say, and yet there would be places that you and I would know of, where we still partake of sins in the name of God. So here’s a reminder for us to do all we can, where we can, to ensure that the spirit of faith and the joy of celebration are not marred with the stain of death and the guilt of decimation... Shubho Pujo!
Perhaps it is too late. By the time you read this page, all those who sin on our behalf would have already sinned in the name of God. But as they say, better late than never…    Click here to read more

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: THE DIRTY BUSINESS

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: THE DIRTY BUSINESS:
 
The garbage dumps and solid wastes are increasingly becoming up-for-grabs between contractors and mafias, who are competing with each other like never before for share of a larger slice of the pie. In doing so, they are leaving no stone unturned to retool their tactics in escaping the existing laws and manipulate the establishment, in their pursuit of solid waste maneuvering.
In Bangalore, for instance, the mafias who had sole dominion over garbage collection met with a jolt when BBMP (The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) attempted to do it in a better way, by recycling procedures done through increasing awareness for segregation at source, i.e., the households. In retaliation, the mafias have dumped heaps of garbage in prohibited and clean zones. The situation is further mired by the conniving nexus between politicians and contractors in a business that can be described as ‘black gold’ worth Rs.430 crore annually in Bangalore alone. The partisan obligation of the BBMP officials was busted in 2008 by BMTF (Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force) enquiry, where as many as 80 officers and 40 contractors were found in the tangle of financial wrongdoings. Bangalore spends Rs.430 crore a year on garbage disposal, which is way ahead of many metropolitan cities of India like Mumbai (which has double the population of Bangalore) with Rs.191 crore, Delhi with Rs.177 crore and Chennai with Rs.135 crore.......Click here to read more

Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Typos: THE COLOUR OF PASSION

Typos: THE COLOUR OF PASSION:

“Cricket needs the West Indies to do well!”, screamed the papers at the start of the 2012 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka. It was as if the fortunes of the game were tied to the success of the cricketers from the Caribbean. And toddlers and teen agers playing cricket in the maidans of the sub-continent would wonder why those men in maroon might matter any more than cricketers from New Zealand, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe or any of these other often honest but hardly ever spectacular cricketing teams. Yes, the West indies have Chris Gayle, but take away the last two IPLs and what exactly do you remember of his greatness? 

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: AUTO WORKS

COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: AUTO WORKS:


The answers for these two questions that is the biggest cause of concern among auto and taxi drivers. It’s on the account of one issue that has been lingering since years – fare hike vis-à-vis fuel price hike. The recent decision of implementing a GPS based fare meter has resurfaced the entire debate all over again. The on-going strike again raises the issue on how the feasibility of such instrument especially after the fact that the cost of such installation would be borne by the auto drivers. If one goes by the entire business model of this highly unorganised industry, almost all apprehensions would get answered.

Click Here to Read. More...............

Thursday, 11 October 2012

Passionate About India: Six years of The Sunday Indian and six defining ch...

Passionate About India: Six years of The Sunday Indian and six defining ch...:

These have been truly turbulent years. Between then and now, we have seen Mayawati sweep Uttar Pradesh and then lose it badly. Between then and now, India has miserably lost the Cricket World Cup and then won it handsomely. Between then and now, the Indian economy has changed from being a rampaging elephant to a caged tiger once again. Between then and now, the three Khans of Bollywood have further cemented their supremacy over the box office. Between then and now, Rahul Gandhi has been transformed from being the latest Great White Hope to a question mark and an enigma. Between then and now, the loot and plunder of natural resources through crony capitalism have gathered momentum. Between then and now, Ratan Tata has endured the disgrace of Singur to fade triumphantly into retirement. Between then and now, Mamata Didi has remained Mamata Didi... So much has happened over the last six years that it would require many multiple books to chronicle contemporary history. And my readers know I do not write history books :-)

click here to read more...

Friday, 28 September 2012

Passionate About India: The latest Sunday Indian Cover Story!!! Who holds ...

Passionate About India: The latest Sunday Indian Cover Story!!! Who holds ...:

It is the race of a lifetime. Who is most likely to be the Prime Minister of India in 2014? That is the billion rupee question that this issue of TSI seeks to answer. In an exclusive survey, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi emerge as the two frontrunners. But by all accounts, it is going to be a close fight.

read more: http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-latest-sunday-indian-cover-story.html .