These two headlines caught my attention in this morning's newspaper. Juxtaposed next to each other, both of them make the patriotic Indian in me jump with joy - these are the kinds of news headlines we longed for since adolescence. Albeit, while the adolescent me would have jumped with joy on reading these, the older mature me is circumspect, even borderline skeptical of the effect these will have on the Indian economy in general, and well being of Indians in specific. My skepticism follows from a series of policy news that has been emanating from the South Block off late. On 3rd August, Government of India (GOI) banned the import of laptops and other electronics used heavily in India's booming IT sector. Prior to that, as a post pandemic stimulus measure for Make In India, the Modi administration had announced several PLI Schemes ( Production Linked Incentive ) for various sectors. These schemes claim to incentivize setting up of industries in strategic sectors or expedite the

It’s a national embarrassment for both India and the US that they don't have a data privacy law  The Indian Prime minister Modi is in the US and amongst much fanfare a lot of joint initiatives are being announced. But one area which could have been a major bedrock for a global regulation has not even been touched. On the contrary, both governments are now engaged in regressive moves on this subject - the subject of Personal Data Protection. TikTok, the popular video-sharing app, has faced bans in several countries, including India, and now there are discussions about a potential ban in the United States as well. The concerns primarily revolve around data privacy and surveillance, with lawmakers pointing out the extensive collection of personal information by TikTok and its Chinese ownership. However, focusing solely on banning TikTok fails to address the broader issue of data privacy and government access to user information. Banning TikTok might seem like a straightforward soluti

In a tragic incident that took place near the Bahanaga railway station in Odisha's Balasore district, a collision between the Coromandel Express and a goods train resulted in the deaths of 207 people, with over 900 others injured. The Bengaluru-Howrah superfast express was also involved in the accident. This devastating event serves as a stark reminder of the safety challenges faced by the Indian Railways.  While statistics may show a relatively low accident ratio per kilometer, it is crucial to consider the context: lower speeds, inadequate facilities, and a significantly higher passenger load compared to other parts of the world. Trains in India enjoy the same status as Airlines given the long distance travel is routinely popular. Given this scenario it is important that safety in rail travel is also given the same level of importance as in the airlines sector. The specifics of why this Accident happened such as technology or human failure may provide certain tactical cues but th

Banksy Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash Justice BV Nagarathna of the Supreme Court of India was recently in the news for being the dissenting voice on two key judgments of the Supreme Court. The first was a verdict on whether Demonetization by the Modi Govt in 2016 was legally valid, and the second was about whether a Minister in the Government is (or not) entitled to 'Hate Speech' in the name of freedom of speech. Justice Nagarathna is, of course, no ordinary judge - she may go on to become the first female Chief Justice of India - and is the daughter of former CJI ES Venkataramiah. But this post is not about Justice Nagarathna, it is about dissent, and especially for the ilk who lament that small dissent in face a powerful lobby is useless. I've heard this often that dissent does not make a difference, especially from people do not wish to engage in socio-political debates; some well wishers also advise against making dissent publicly known for 'one's own safe

Photo by Gabography When India went from being a British dominion to a Republic on its own, two parallel but interrelated events shaped its contours and personality. The first, was of course, the formulation of the Constitution of India - the first modern document which encapsulated the ethos, principles, and aspirations of Indians as a whole. And the second was the formal political unification of Indian territory from 600 plus splintered states and provinces into one nation. It is notable that India is one of the world's oldest republics - of the 16 Mahajanpads which formed India 2500+ years ago, two were Gantantra i.e. Republics. The world's oldest self-governing systems were in India (and not in Greece as is popularly believed). While little is known about the Indus Valley Civilization - it is very likely that this civilization also practised some form of the republican political system. Similarly, when it comes to a unified India, the earliest unification of the Indian subc

7 years ago today, Nelson Mandela left us - committed to ending differences in human race and a keen follower of Gandian values, Mandela is a powerful role model for leaders in the 21st century.   But before there was Mandela, there was Robert Mugabe, the Premier and later President of Zimbabwe who was heralded as the statesman of Africa and the model for good governance. [ 1 ]. As history tells us however, Mugabe and his politics failed miserably.  The reason why Zimbabwe became a failed state and South Africa a successful one was because of the Gandhian values, mainly ' Hate the Sin, Not the Sinner ' imbibed by Nelson Mandela, and a contrasting revengeful reign by Mugabe in Zimbabwe (especially in the 1990s). The story about how Mandela used the Rugby World cup [ 2 ] to reconcile and reach out for his erstwhile oppressors is a case in point [The subject was used in the movie Invictus , which is titled on one of Mandela's favourite poems - and mine too!]. Mugabe vs Ma

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus - Mumbai Unprecedented Lockdown Its been a month and 10 days of the lockdown here in India, an attempt to contain the outbreak of Covid-19; the deadly virus which has engulfed the whole world and caused the death of thousands - possibly the most deaths mankind has seen in a span of few months since the Second World War. [I mean this only in the global context though, locally we have had wars, calamities and similar viral outbreaks which have outnumbered Covid-19.] As the founder of a travel startup, I was initially terribly shaken at how life has been thrown completely out of gear by this deadly virus. Travel is the worst affected sector; suddenly 2020 which we had planned to be the 'explosive growth' year for us has thrown us into an existential crisis. The situation has taken such a wild turn that I've grown comfortably numb only shifting the timeline of our 'explosive' growth to the next calendar year [or potentially even furt

Who was the first Prime Minister of India to authorize an 'across the border strike' to defend Jammu & Kashmir? The answer is [Sorry Narendra Modi fans!] Lal Bahadur Shastri whose birthday we celebrate today with Gandhiji. In 1965, the Pakistani army hatched the Operation Gibraltar which was aimed at annexing J&K by cutting off India's neck below Jammu. Sometime late August / early September, Pakistan started advancing its troops [as usual - disguised as locals] from Gulmarg, Uri and Baramulla. When they got detected, it launches Operations Grand Slam to annex Akhnoor and then Jammu. Incidentally, Indian forces which were devastated recently (1962) during the Indo-China war could not mount an effective defence in this sector. In response, however, Lal Bahadur Shastri's government authorised advancement of Indian forces further south in Punjab cutting off the Pakistani forces advancing towards Jammu from the other side - a classic military tactic. India

If you are writing off Greta Thunberg as a case of poster girl for environmentalists-with-vested-interest and believe that her doomsday predictions are just shenanigans - you are missing the point entirely. Here's a teenager who's situation is compounded by Asperger's syndrome and Selective Mutism - speaking out aloud to a community of world leaders. Her scenarios are obviously blown out of proportion - weren't yours when you were adolescent? The point isn't whether or not her predictions are true - the point is we adults care so much less than we should. Mankind will not go extinct - and while some species might, its not going to be a mass extinction either. If it indeed does happen, while millions of poorer humans may perish, most of us using social media, (presumed to be) living in developed cities / towns will survive. Temperature going up by 2° will inflate your Air Conditioning bill and may be add to 'work from home' days when its either snow

If you have ever visited Jabalpur, you surely would have taken a boat ride across 'Bandar Kodini' at the Bhedaghat waterfalls. The boat ride initially takes you along the Narmada river at a leisurely pace, as you gape in wonder at the majestic white cliffs - a hundred feet tall on both sides - changing colour. They do not actually change colours, the cliffs comprise of many shades of marble and as the rays of the sun bounce off their surface, give an illusion of changing colours. And then as your boat ride comes to a close, the tranquil waters of the river gain a sense of urgency after a point and turn turbulent as they crash down the Dhuandhar falls. I don't know if the new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has ever visited Bhedaghat, but she might be able to relate this with the experience she is going to have with the Indian economy. The two giant cliffs she is rowing the boat between are Slowdown in Economy and Managing Inflation. With the NDA government having

unsplash-logo Image Credit - Abby0427 Yoga With Modi's farmer scheme ( PM Kisan ) and then Congress follow up with 72k per annum for poor ( NYAY ), a lot of debate has ensued on the efficacy of income guarantee as a tool of public welfare. There are many who argue the time has come for India to start giving some form of Social Security to its citizens while some others argue the exchequers (in)ability to do so. The financial debate aside, one major aberration I see is the conflation of the terms 'Income Guarantee' (IG) and 'Universal Basic Income' (UBI). I am no economist but I have keenly read about the UBI experiments in Scandinavian countries , libertarian geeks on the subject [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] and the recent UBI proposal by the American Presidential candidate Andrew Yang . On the basis of this reading, I was able to conclude at least on one thing - IG and UBI are different concepts. UBI is supposed to be Universal - even an Aka