India witnessed peaceful general elections in which the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won a decisive victory. It was a personal triumph for Sonia Gandhi (photo above), President of the Congress Party, and her son, Rahul Gandhi, an alumni of Rollins College in Florida, who spearheaded the election campaign.
India election results topped trend on Twitter worldwide. (See here…) Mr Manmohan Singh will take fresh oath this week, only the second Indian Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to return to power after a full five-year term,” reports The Hindustan Times.
“With 206 seats in the lower house of the Parliament (that has a total of 543 seats), India’s grand old party ran up its best tally in 18 years, winning urban and rural seats from across the country.
“The victory also boosted the standing of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi (39) who led the charge into India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh — where the Congress won 21 seats, the highest in 25 years.” More here…
Surrounded by countries that are often in turmoil, including Pakistan, Nepal, Burma, etc, India stands out as beacon of hope for democracy in South Asia. Some statistics: Eligible voters – 714 million; Polling centres – 828,804.
India held general elections—the largest democratic election in the world—to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases on April 16, April 22/23, April 30, May 7 and May 13, 2009. The results of the election were announced on May 16, 2009. (More here…)
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.