Lalita Panicker leads the opinion section at Hindustan Times. Over a 33-year career, she has specialised in gender issues, reproductive health, child rights, politics and social engineering.
Articles by Lalita Panicker
Blair, Bhave trumpet India's emergence
India may not just emerge stronger from the global financial downturn but has an opportunity to show the rest of the world the road ahead. That was the train of thought on the second day of the HT Leadership Summit, report L Panicker and S Singh. See special.
Updated on Nov 23, 2008 01:08 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker and Sandeep Singh, New Delhi
Blair: Global effort needed to tackle present crisis
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said whether it's the economic challenge, the terrorist threat, climate change or the battle for resources, we are in this together, reports Lalita Panicker. See Special | See webcast of Tony Blair's speech |Amit Baruah in a tete' a tete' with Tony Blair
Updated on Nov 22, 2008 06:37 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker, New Delhi
A charmer too perfect ...
When the surrealist and uber eccentric painter Salvador Dali said, “Have no fear of perfection — you’ll never reach it,” he clearly could never have meant US President-elect Barack Obama, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Nov 06, 2008 12:03 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Sunny side up
Women were great cookbook writers but when it came to wielding the ladle, men were thought to rule the roast. Well, the menu’s changed now, reports Tasneem Nashrulla.
Updated on Sep 07, 2008 10:52 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Tasneem Nashrulla and Lalita Panicker, Mumbai/new Delhi
Singh Singapore
Former advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sanjaya Baru has been on many fast trains. Now he just wants to sit on the platform. Lalita Panicker gives details...
Updated on Sep 05, 2008 10:11 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Manila enveloped
You get culture and discounted designer wear in the largest island city of the Philippines. You can also get embroidered shirts for your spouse, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Aug 22, 2008 11:16 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Book Review: The Cambridge Curry Club
The Cambridge Curry Club meanders around three women of Indian origin and one barmy Irish woman who run a charity shop, IndiaNeed.
Updated on Aug 05, 2008 03:38 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
The quality of mercy much strained
The Cambridge Curry Club is a novel that meanders on through the lives of the protagonists, never quite making any point, but nevertheless hilarious in parts, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Aug 03, 2008 12:07 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Out of Africa
That Robert Mugabe is destroying Zimbabwe is obvious. Less obvious is what Thabo Mbeki is doing to South Africa and the region, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Jul 21, 2008 12:00 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Subtracting fuel from the fire in Kashmir
The irony couldn’t have been greater. On Sunday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad inaugurated the new assembly building, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Jul 07, 2008 08:37 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Education plan big draw with donors
The ambitious Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA2) project aimed at universal elementary education may have come in for flak at home, but clearly inspires investor confidence among donor agencies from abroad, reports Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Jul 02, 2008 01:44 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker, New Delhi
Nepal’s businessmen plunge into politics
If there has been one section that has enthusiastically plunged into the chaos of the new political process in Nepal, it is the business community, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Jun 24, 2008 12:55 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker, Kathmandu
Nepal looks forward to economic boom
After the political revolution, Nepalese businesspersons are looking forward to an economic revolution.Lalita Panicker tells more.......
Updated on Jun 13, 2008 01:43 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker, Lalita Panicker Kathmandu
Uneasy lies the head
The Maoists, whether you believe in their ideology or not, have dragged a country still stuck in a feudal ethos into the democratic age, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Jun 12, 2008 10:31 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Women Maoists more fiery than men
Maoist women, many of whom are ministers are now, are fiery and not ready to compromise, reports Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Jun 09, 2008 11:28 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker, Kathmandu
If looks could kill
Is our crusading Health Minister aware that corrective surgeries could go horribly wrong? Lalita Panicker examines.
Updated on Apr 14, 2008 09:49 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Invest in human capital: UN official
Echoing PM Manmohan Singh’s call for inclusive growth, Noeleen Heyzer, under-secretary general of the UN and executive director spoke of the pitfalls of prosperity as an end in itself, reports Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Mar 28, 2008 02:41 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker, New Delhi
Build bridges over troubled waters
Credit for moderation in Saudi Arabia must go to King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz who has gone where most other Islamic rulers fear to tread in being accommodative, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Mar 27, 2008 11:26 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Penny for their thoughts?
We were so overcome by Chidambaram’s lyrical concessions that we forgot to see whether his inclusive budget will really make much of a difference to gender budgeting. Lalita Panicker writes.
Updated on Mar 12, 2008 10:35 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Portrait from the lady
Benazir Bhutto's posthumous book Reconciliation presents her world as black and white. Which could explain why reading it is a colourless exercise.
Updated on Feb 18, 2008 07:14 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Really taking it to heart
And in direct proportion to our desire to revel in Valentine’s Day comes the ire of Shiv Sena moral police who are lurking behind bushes to snuff out any attempts by couples to canoodle, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Feb 13, 2008 09:55 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Merrily marooned in Mauritius
And if it’s good enough for JK Rowling to have retreated in Mauritius to write the final Harry Potter, it is good enough for me, write Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Feb 01, 2008 10:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Urban Gypsy | Lalita Panicker
Getting your fill of the chill
As winter’s icy breath wraps itself around us with the Beeb predicting that the temperature will hit zero and our own Met putting the figure at 2°C today, the greatest dilemma is how to get out of bed each morning and reach work without freezing to death.
Updated on Jan 31, 2008 10:28 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Not a magic pill
The Gurgaon racket reveals that we have our own desi version of Robin Cook’s spine-chilling medical thriller Coma, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Jan 31, 2008 09:57 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Non-existing Indians
We’re so proud of the NRI success story. But any takers for the ugly side of the diaspora tale, asks Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Dec 02, 2007 11:08 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
‘Indians better qualified than others'
She is widely reputed to be the gatekeeper to British prime minister Gordon Brown. Baroness Shriti Vadera spoke to Lalita Panicker while on a visit to the Capital on what she thought were the challenges before India.
Updated on Nov 04, 2007 03:09 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Their collateral damage
The war in Iraq has been reduced to mere statistics. But the real tragedy is the destruction of the nation and the absolute horrors visited on its people, especially women and children, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Oct 30, 2007 12:26 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
‘Crime against tourists unacceptable’
Lalita Panicker speaks to Ambika Soni, Minister for culture and tourism.
Updated on Sep 30, 2007 02:13 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
Turning Karatwheels
Instead of the N-deal, the CPM should focus on economically stagnant states like Kerala, writes Lalita Panicker.
Updated on Sep 18, 2007 11:14 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker
We have thwarted many attacks: NSA
Please be aware that we have been able to deflect many terror attacks and these have not been brought to the public attention because we do not want to alarm people, says MK Narayanan in an interview to HT.
Updated on Sep 11, 2007 03:45 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Lalita Panicker