In The News

Meet the Zippies

Thomas L. Friedman February 22, 2004
Wearing clothes other than the traditional Indian outfits, India's youth of today have become the first generation in the country to welcome global trade and the western jobs that come with it "with a zip in the stride." In this column in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman shows us the "zippies" phenomenon in India's many big cities like Bangalore. With 54% of the...

Immigrants Shouldn't Act like Dracula's 'Undead'

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray February 3, 2004
In a provocative essay, Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, a researcher at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies, argues that the sympathetic worldwide response to the proposed French ban on religious symbols in schools highlights the development of the "globalization of protest" and social movements. Improved communications and the rapid flow of ideas, ideologies and people across national...

Headscarf Ban Misses the Point

Shada Islam January 30, 2004
The debate that has raged in France for 15 years over the right of Muslim girls to wear religious headscarves to school has come to a head with a plan to ban the practice. The French ideal of strict separation of church and state has pushed the government to ban this "conspicuous" display of religious identity in state schools. Moreover, some feminists and government officials consider...

Cuba Ailing? Not Its Biomedical Industry

Tom Fawthrop January 26, 2004
One does not frequently hear of Cuba when discussing today's integrating global economy. Cuba appears isolated, politically and economically, mainly due to trade restrictions placed on it by the US in the 1960's. No wonder, says the author of this Straits Times article, the world is surprised to learn of Cuba's flourishing biotech industry which has contributed much to the field of...

Education Is No Protection

Bob Herbert January 26, 2004
Columnist Bob Herbert begins his New York Times op-ed with a critique of a conference held in New York to update executives on the new trend of outsourcing white collar jobs to countries with an educated but cheaper workforce. Such 'upscale outsourcing' is a relatively new phenomenon in much of corporate America. In the current US job market, prospects for white collar jobs already look...

Impatient Jobs

Seema Sirohi January 20, 2004
The IT industry has started to chime in on the outsourcing debate. A group of the top eight American IT companies recently commissioned a report in favor of outsourcing, arguing that countries which yield to protectionism end up stifling their own industries and innovation. The report also slams the US educational system for not producing enough qualified graduates in math and engineering. Soon...

Headscarf Ban and Multi-Secularisms

Muhamad Ali January 20, 2004
In Jakarta, Muslim women protested France's headscarf ban at state schools in front of the French Embassy. To these Indonesian women, France's prohibition of religious symbols, including large crosses and Jewish skullcaps, violates the rights of French citizens. Headscarves, they maintain, are a religious obligation, not a cultural expression, and outlawing them interferes with a...