Finance Minister’s unhelpful attitudes There is this joke feature on the NDTV. It mercilessly exposes the humbug of our polticians, brings the PM, Sonia Gandhi and others and makes them answer to some plain questions. It brings in all the bigwigs, Vajpayyer, Advaniji and others too! In one recent feature, the month being the budget…
Prime Minister vs Chief Justice of India
Judicial activism ? Or Executive inaction? Executive excesses? Or, executive apathy? How the public mood swings? From helplessness to activism! By brave individuals and dedicated citizens! Judicial activism springs from the fact some bold individuals file public interest litigations on a variety of issues, from land encroachments to environment protection to human rights violations. Only…
India’s nuclear deal’s many unanswered questions
There is an air of complacency and self-congratulation in New Delhi! After the Indo-US nuclear deal everything seems to have been settled for this government. As Kuldip Nayar points out that the nuclear deal has only opened up some unsettled issues for not only India but more so for Pakistan and China. There are so…
Religion for sale? Like Pepsi, Coke?
Neofeudalism in new religious empires building? As I turned on the TV the Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Living Foundation’s Silver Jubilee celebrations at Jakkur Airport grounds came alive! What a fantastic show, I wondered! So, I was caught up by the spectacle, it was all buzz and business from the word go! An estimated…
Central Government has no clarity!
What the next stage in agricultural growth should be! The PM needs to do much more than keeping himself busy with Delhi affairs or visiting the RBI headquarters for old time sake and also simply harping on the subject of the rate of economic growth, fiscal management etc. A Prime Minister has much more to…
My Oxford day intellectuals and scholars
I have written elsewhere, some time ago, about the number of persons who influenced my thought and also the way I think about issues. Those whom I didn’t not know personally but whose books influenced me form one set of such persons. These range from poets to philosophers, journalists, men like Boris Pasternak and other…
Building dams and inter-linking the rivers
Too many vested interests are holding up developments It is simple common-sense that there is going to be a severe shortage of water for every type of use. Drinking water itself has become a critical commodity. Even in Bangalore which is well developed and still fast developing, where Cauvery water is supplied there are severe…
TCS Ramadorai : shortfall of half a million employable graduates by 2010
Education is much more than IT skills, right? Education is multi-functional and multi-dimensional Education certainly can’t be but an economic and social reality Corporates call for merit is unrealistic and very soon the broader reality would impact on this very selfish and very short-sighted and even a sort of egotistic hemonism! At any rate, the…