And We sent not unto any township a warner, but its pampered ones declared Lo! we are disbelievers in that wherewith ye have been sent.

And We sent not unto any township a warner, but its pampered ones declared Lo! we are disbelievers in that wherewith ye have been sent.

Most journalistic accounts of the new forms of electronic money misleadingly spin the story as the emergence of yet another convenience for the technologically pampered. So what if we can pull out a smart card rather than carry coins?

Ideally, that head of state would be an elected president, rather than a hereditary monarch. Indeed, anything worthwhile that a monarch can do, an elected non executive president can do better not least because an elected official is much less likely to be undermined by the scandals of pampered offspring or degraded by the inevitable hypocrisy and servility of a royal court.

This is precisely the attitude that raises the hackles of domestic critics, especially on the left, who argue that a country facing India s crippling social and economic problems cannot afford the luxury of indulging in space exploration. Critics have portrayed the Mars mission as an irresponsible ego trip by pampered scientists disconnected from the harsh realities of Indian poverty and suffering.

Having learned from the collapse of the Soviet Union that a bureaucratic ruling party must co opt new social elites to deprive potential opposition groups of leaders, the Communist Party has conducted an effective campaign of expanding its social base. The urban intelligentsia and professionals have been pampered with material perks and political recognition, while new private entrepreneurs have been allowed to join the Party.