Wit Wisdom and Whoop

  Way back in April 2017, I had the opportunity to write a piece for OpIndia which is linked below. I take the liberty, 9 years later to just reproduce the same in my blog more as a record for myself. OpIndia Piece With the highest number of MLAs of any party in 24 years and UP firmly in the bag, the NDA under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is well on its way to match the political might of the old Congress under Nehru and Indira. With the dark days of political instability behind us and a decisive leader, India has a chance to finally take the big leap forward on the economic front and claim its rightful place on the world map. But to get there, Modi administration will have to deftly tackle these 4 big challenges we face: Universal healthcare Universal primary education Universal social security & shelter Personal freedom, liberty, law & justice In this article, based on my own experience I propose how the Modi administration could go about tackling these issues. Universal ...

Its all about the money, honey!!! This defence pact is between 3 Islamic nations, who are majorly Sunni. They all have strained relations with Israel – “officially”. Barring for Turkey the other two don’t recognise Israel officially. On the other hand, they are all linked to Iran by the Islamic religion but divided by the Sunni/ Shia divide. Saudi Arabia has the USA security umbrella and a nuclear energy deal. Turkey is a part of NATO. Some Gulf states have signed the Abraham accord, resumed diplomatic relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia is being pressurised to join in. Pakistan is supposedly brokering peace between Iran and USA/Israel, is the 3rd leg of this accord even as it strengthens its trade with Iran. POTUS Donald Trump has given a thumbs up to this alliance even as USA moves its last aircraft carrier from the Asian region to the Gulf leaving the region free for the Chinese. This complicated broth makes the situation complex and its early days to hazard a guess on the future...

A Hot Air Baloon in California I saw - which had the Indian flag amongst various others - Happy 80th Independence day The Tata Imbroglio: Ever since Noel Tata took over as the Chairman of the Tata Trusts in October 2024, not a day has passed without some controversy and unseemly fights breaking out. From day one Noel Tata has ensured the purge of every older member who are considered “loyal” to the Late Ratan Tata. To be fair, all board members have played a role in the political fracas over appointments, and none can claim to be untainted in this mudslinging. Logically when a person is dead, the still alive folks cannot demonstrate personal loyalty to be viewed with suspicion. Further all the names involved are of high reputation with some having their own business groups, and to question their loyalty to the Group/Trust sounds crazy. The roster of names who have been purged in the last 2 years is 7 as below. N Chandrashekar Ajay Piramal Vijay Singh Ralph Speth Mehli Mistry Venu Srini...

How Many Look like Students is a Moot Question I was in college between 1975 and 1982 and more than once I vividly recall the mad frenzy of students chasing a copy of the so-called exam question paper that had leaked. We spent more time chasing this elusive leaked paper than studying. How did this work? One weak link either at the lowest level or at the level where someone had custody of the question paper decides to leak it for benefits to self. Every such transaction has a buyer and a seller. A seller doesn’t actively go looking for a buyer. It’s the buyer who using various means “seduces” the seller into sharing the information – its deliberate for specific reasons. The very fact that majority of exam papers DON’T get leaked, but only some is proof of the fact that the buyers are few and do so for a specific reason. The student community by and large are honest. Once having purchased the exam paper, contrary to popular perception, the person doesnt go around distributing it like...

  One thing that often frustrates me, is when I listen to global experts and folks I meet, who give sermons on China its progress, scale, development & then talk of how we India are so far behind. This is what I call as Fact but not true. Have we as a nation failed to harness our abilities, talent, opportunity etc? Absolutely YES. We could have done far better & yes, we can justifiably blame the socialist age, license raj regime, our politicians, our industrialists. But why is it that none understand one simple fact that is also true - China is a one party, one policy, one govt autocracy/ communist/ socialist/ capitalist system with no election ever - & once a policy is made, it is implemented, if need be, by "gunning" people down. They make 50-year plans while others plan for the next elections. Today they are criminalising the business decisions of anyone who has invested in China, if they chose to develop a second supply base outside China – and the world a...