MOBILE OPERATORS CARTEL Will TRAI Act or Allow the Loot?

WITH the increase of cellular tariffs by about 15-20 per cent by all major cellular operators except BSNL soon after they have received fresh concessions on revenue sharing and lower interconnect charges, it is now … Read more

Rovers On Mars: Anyone Out There?

AN important milestone in space exploration was reached on January 4 when the American space agency NASA’s mobile robotic probe, named Spirit, successfully landed on Mars and started sending back spectacular images of the red … Read more

An Artificial Sun On Earth?

LAST week major world and nuclear powers meeting in Washington took further steps, but encountered a major hurdle, along the road towards a dream project for a nuclear reactor or power-generation system based on fusion … Read more

Waiting For Gorshkov

THE suspense over India’s proposed and long-awaited acquisition of the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov appeared to be over last week only to reappear almost immediately. The developments revealed yet again not only the contentious … Read more

Selling Out To MNCs: R&D Deal Between Glaxo And Ranbaxy

RECENTLY the leading Indian pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy and the leading global pharmaceutical major, Glaxo Smithe Kline announced that they had come to a collaborative agreement on pharmaceutical R&D. This agreement is being hailed in industry … Read more

Goodbye Concorde!Hello What?

A FORTNIGHT ago, the world witnessed a momentous event in aviation history: the retirement from service of the world’s first, and for long the only, civilian supersonic airliner, the Concorde. Five Concordes of the British … Read more

The US, Mini Nukes And Iran

THE continuing threat of nuclear weapons hanging over the globe has been brought out sharply by two recent developments. The United States has announced the development of mini nukes and bunker buster bombs in complete … Read more

Public Religion and Private Belief The Role of Catholic Church

THE “beatification” of Mother Teresa drew a worldwide audience with the media, both Indian and international figuring it prominently. Beatification is the first step in the complex process the church declaring anyone a saint. While … Read more

The East Is Redder

WHEN China had launched its first satellite, the Dongfanghong (East is Red) or DFH-1, at a time when it was relatively isolated internationally, its ties with the Soviet Union ruptured and involved in an aggressive … Read more

Unified Telecom License: Arun Shourie Vitiating a Sensible Move

ARUN Shourie, the minister of communications has been arguing that the TDSAT judgement on Wireless in the Local Loop (WiLL) cannot be implemented, as it will lead to “more litigations.” This argument should have been … Read more

The US Blackout: Lessons For India

THE blackout in the US and Canada that took place on the 14th of last month cut a wide swathe across north-east America, leaving more than 50 million people without electricity, some even more than … Read more

Charade On Public Health Before Cancun

AS the Cancun Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation draws near, a charade is being played out in the name of public health. It may be recalled that the previous WTO Ministerial meeting held … Read more