The India Site | Dishing up Indian news and non aligned views | India: A Portrait by Patrick French http://www.theindiasite.com The latest, most interesting news and comment about India and South Asia, hand picked daily from newspapers and websites by Patrick French and other readers around the world Fri, 18 May 2012 09:51:55 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Air India ‘staff stealing whisky and caviar and being chauffeured in limousines to five star hotels … one pilot had been paid more than £250,000 in allowances for simulator training while he was off work on sick leave.’ http://india.nydailynews.com/article/1f7e031ecb20a38f6feb7f28ac763d02/pilots-predeliction-for-high-life-could-bring-down-air-india Bookshops in Peshawar face closure … ‘Militants also directly undercut bookstores’ sales by distributing Jihadi literature outside mosques.’ http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/literature-bondage The Times of India extols the value of virginity |’So now, save your virginity. Don’t give it away on a platter.’ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/man-woman/Great-things-about-being-a-virgin-woman/articleshow/11537111.cms No Subject For Young Men OR Why do only girls study Psychology? By Prashansa Taneja | Anay, for one, could never get his head round the difference between ‘avoidance-oriented’ and ‘emotion-oriented’ strategies… http://www.theindiasite.com/no-subject-for-young-men/ How do you tell the difference between a Sunni and a Shia sperm? “There was a list of Bollwyood actors such as John Abraham and Emraan Hashmi and each of them was graded…” (Read this story for the comments alone) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Brahmin-sperms-in-high-demand-among-childless-couples/articleshow/13114610.cms “We’ll never let them take our India” | Boot camp or Beauty Pageant? | Tribeca film festival award-winning documentary follows Miss India contestants alongside RSS ‘Durga Vahini’ boot camp trainees http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/india/india-pageant-fundamentalist-tribeca Ongoing chaos at Air India:“AI is almost bankrupt. It is not able to pay salaries for months, not paid to airport authority and oil marketing companies” http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/SectorsAviation/Air-India-crisis-continues-over-20-flights-cancelled-today/Article1-853444.aspx Number crunching on ‘The business of family politics in India’ by A. Dar | “Hyper-hereditary MPs are the richest folks in the Lok Sabha and their average total assets is even more than MPs who have a business background!” http://theopendata.com/site/2012/04/the-business-of-family-politics-in-india/ New findings on the link between heredity and wealth in politics | “Mummy-daddy MPs are on average a whopping 4.5 times richer than MPs who have no family background in politics … If you rank the 20 richest MPs in the Lok Sabha, 15 are hereditary politicians and 10 are members of the Indian National Congress” http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?tabId=13&programId=1073755417&categoryId=-1073908161&contentId=11528955 Angry Telecom goes after the GOI: “It would be grossly unjust if, on the basis of legislation passed five years after the event, Vodafone were to be charged tax on a gain made by someone else, especially where the Indian Supreme Court unambiguously ruled that no tax was payable in India according to the laws of India in force in 2007″ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Vodafone-threatens-legal-action-as-govt-plans-Rs-20000-crore-tax-demand/articleshow/13067340.cms