The first was the truckers calling off their strike, and the second the release of the 3 Indian hostages in Iraq.

In the former, it was nice to see a Finance Minister stick to his guns, after announcing taxes in a budget and not rolling back ala Yashwant Sinha. Such a relief to see the Government not backing down on something as simple as taxation. Either everybody who provides a service pays the service tax, or no one does. There can be no two laws in a country, and I am glad that the Government showed the necessary spine to insist on this.

The second is slightly more ambigious. I am glad that the hostages are released and home safely. I hope that the Government of India did not pay ransom. But on this issue, I believe that the media hyped the situation to such an extent that the lives of 3 men were more important than the security of 1.2 billion people.

Today I was glad to read in the papers that the Government is going to adopt a no “No Negotiations with Terrorists” policy. I respect the people of France united in their stand against kidnappers. I hope that we as a people take heed. The nation is bigger than any individual/s. And it is time that we learnt to respect that.