The author is a government officer who prefers to remain anonymous. It is quite amusing to note that on one hand government policies are framed after much deliberation and that too after much passage of time, from the date such an idea emanates in certain minds to the date of issue of such a policy for implementation. On the other hand, after declaration of a polic
Us jaded media consumers can tell from a mile away when a star or star-pair is due to have a film released. As the stars acquiesce to promotional and PR tours, the interviews, general interest, red carpet-sightings, romantic rumours swirl toward a crescendo, and reach an enduring frenzy if the film is a success. So, we knew from afar that ‘Gravity’ was coming. I also began to sen
Am I the only one who feels they are overdoing the choreography for the Sachin finale? Like, not only adding pressure on to the man but making his final showing into a kind of a circus? The venue, the hype, the 200th Test record, the suitably arranged home ground choice, the return of the tired Windies – all of it is a bit unfair and not in the finest traditions of the sport. Bet
Talking to large rallies of people with scores of everyday problems, pains and sorrows -- to a farmer, a labourer, an unemployed youth with so many dreams -- is no easy work. It is all the more difficult if you are a descendant of a ruling family whom everyone looks at with awe. Rahul Gandhi is looked at with such awe – when he talks with people in villages and on streets or lifts a load
Growth “wallahs” (the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry) routinely underestimate the interlinked role of land, water and housing in development. In the Indian context, these are critical for a long term growth strategy. Our growth czars are disingenuous in routinely deriding the use of equity markets and foreign investment as valid indicators for economic health but are
Disruptive innovation (DI) is a force multiplier in business and technology. Value creation is all about getting there ahead of the competition. DI annihilates the competition, not by doing the same things better but by doing them differently, thereby changing the rules of the game. The recent greats in this line of business are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. The Mahatma an
There is a lot that Rahul Gandhi, a.k.a. The Prince, is doing right. Despite the cruel, crass hashtag world of social media, where he will continue to be referred to as #Pappu at least in near, foreseeable future, the Congress party vice-president is batting for quite a few things that are righteous, and democratic (read the latest issue of Governance Now for more on “Our insider in the s
The goonda raj, unleashed in Delhi from 1975, pulled the rug from under the principled politics of the previous three decades. Even the followers of Gandhian turned Socialist, JP Narayan and Lohiya succumbed to achieving ends without giving a thought to the means adopted, assiduously emulated and enhanced the bad practices of the sole national party of the times. This has been the leitmotif of
Just 285 km from Kargil, Kupwara was in news over the last two weeks amid a host of other headline-worthy items – Lalu Prasad’s conviction, the battle over and now against Telangana, Rahul Gandhi’s intervention to do away with the ordinance on criminalization of politics, former army chief VK Singh’s claims that the army pays certain Jammu and Kashmir ministers for certa
Elections are round the corner. Babus are petrified of taking decisions. But the government is burning the midnight oil to grant “relief”, under the guise of “protecting consumer interest”, to Reliance, Tata and Adani to compensate for the poor planning and foresight of these companies. The central electricity regulatory commission (CERC) decided in April
Why vote? It is not unusual to find this sentiment being expressed. When we use the expression `not unusual`, there is no exaggeration because even for a high voting percentage of 75, one out of every four subscribes to this line of thinking. Of the three who do vote, discounting the ones who vote on caste lines, religious overtures and patriarchal dictates there isn`t much left to be counted a
Two newspaper articles recently caught my attention. The first quotes the father who killed his daughter and her boyfriend in the Rohtak district of Haryana for eloping as saying, “Whatever I did was right and for honour. If others also follow the same path, such things (love marriages) won’t take place.” The other article points out that more Dalits are marrying out of caste,
If Rahul Gandhi’s gate-crashing into Congress’s own Ideas Inc department, and saying his government was wrong in trying to save convicted MPs and MLAs through an ordinance, were moves that eventually strips Lalu Prasad Yadav of his membership in Lok Sabha, Lalu’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is not making the displeasure public as yet. Call it political co
Everything was going all right with the world, a nation breathing in the supreme court’s verdict on a citizen’s right to reject the criminals masquerading as smiling poster boys of political parties out to do all that is good for you and at the same time hyperventilating on the need for the country’s president to reject autographing an ordinance that rejects the apex court&rsq
The QS World University Rankings are out. We as a nation have drawn a blank again when it comes to the top 200 – as in previous years. That is no great news; we may reflect something like this: It is an annual feature and who knows how much of this information comes to us doctored or based on parameters that do not s
What are the roles available for the political class in times of rioting? Political leaders can be expected to instigate riots, propagate rumours, mobilise mobs, indulge in blame game, and manage post-riot relief and compensation. Are they expected to stop riots, and heal wounds? No. That would be too idealistic. When rioting is on, the mob is in such animalistic frenzy that it would be foolhar
Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan is all set to make his debut monetary policy statement on Friday. With the US Federal Reserve’s welcome announcement to continue with its bond buying stimulus package and the rupee recovering, markets are expecting the governor to withdraw some of the measures that his predecessor undertook to check the outflow of funds. Despite some s
That Miss America Nina Davuluri would not be able to become a Bollywood actress because the producer would prefer a fair girl over her due to market demands is giving the market too much credit. Too much credit for being too fair and for acting on forces outside of itself. The market does not work on an already created need, affinity or both but has mechanisms to create its own. `If you
The All India Students Association (AISA) won all four central panel seats in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students union elections again this year. Besides a slight aberration last year, when the JNUSU president`s post when to the Democratic Student`s Forum (DSF), a breakaway group of the CPI(M)-affiliated Students’ Federation of India (SFI) formed that year itself, this is pretty m
India’s current account deficit (CAD) hitting a record high of 4.8% in July and the continuous simultaneous steady plunging of the rupee, which has not bottomed out yet, has become a major source of worry for the country. The depreciation of the rupee (15% against the dollar since January) will result in the cost of future import of goods such as petroleum, coal, and non-essential
