Let us say India is a confident nation? No leader worth his or her salt says. What the Prime Minister said soon after the Vijay Parva? After the Gujarat victory? The PM asks counter questions. Harps on Hindutva. A great pity, indeed. The Opposition leader Ms.Sonia Gandhi hides her disappointment for not winning Gujarat elections….
An unequal world
US and Indian democracies: Different values! US has a rightwing, miltarist, authoritarian government. India, with all its economic weaknesses, has a more open society. This is an unequal world. Injustice is the outcome for many weaker countries. I watched the last two debates of the Presidential candidates, George Bush and John Kerry rather very attentively….
NGOs in rural development
Time to have some candid criticisms! Govts, banks can succeed in villages only working through NGOs,SHGs and even panchayats. NGOs are very much part of any development. More so in India with its myriad problems. Even more pointedly society development where a host of intractable problems persist and defy easy solutions. Poverty, illiteracy, healthcare, social…
Coffee growers : see the unwisdom of coffee acreage expansion!
There was this 21st International coffee Science meet in Bangalore not long ago. 35 countries grow coffee in the world and there is acute economic crisis in the coffee industry worldwide and most of the coffee growing countries are dependent upon this single crop as an export commodity and this very commodity determines the economic…
Health care costs in small towns very high.
Hospitalisation charges in small towns in India are very high. Recently two people I knew underwent a heart bypass operation. One of them did the operation at Kuppuswamy Naidu hospital in Coimbatore. The total bill for him came upto Rs 2.5 lakhs. The other person I knew underwenta similar operation (CABG) at Wockhardt Hospital at…
Communists say IT is not essential service!
Our leaders must understand the young generations mood Yes, the CPI (M) Politbureau that met in New Delhi recently saw the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee clashing with his colleagues over the need for banning any strikes in the IT sector in the State. West Bengal under the now wise CM is trying to…
Should we teach patriotism in our schools?
Rich schools,poor schools,urban schools,rural schools. Schools exist in isolation and what binds the Indian schools?What minmum programme for Indian schools?Regional and language chauvinism had destroyed an Indian identity in the youth.We need some loud thinking,identify the regional politicians who divided the Indian mind and injected the new divsions of regions,castes and prejudices.Schools have to teach…
Do Indians have a sense of history?
Some thoughts on the history of our times. History is a challenging social science! Reading history is one thing. Writing history is another thing. Should we, Indians, re-write our history? India’s need to re-write and also learn to re-interpret the world events of the 20th century and also the likely shape of history in the…