03 May, 2023 How can it be that if Indian State invokes a common law principle so clearly enunciated in the US, it suddenly becomes a fascist enemy of decent NGOs? There has been quite a bit of noise about the current dispensation being against what is referred to as “civil society”. One expects this kind of diatribe […]
12 June, 2023 My one quarrel with Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan is that it emphasises on the war-mongering elements of Chola history not on their aesthetic, administrative achievements. The Irish political theorist Benedict Anderson postulated that nations are “imagined” communities. It is important to note that even the kingdoms and empires of antiquity are “imagined” entities. Arguably, […]
07 April, 2022 American ‘experts’ have an anti-India bias that started with Bush’s tilt towards Delhi. With Trump, it was the perfect storm for US Left to react. Recently, there has been commentary about the so-called ‘Hindu Right’ turning anti-American, jettisoning years of its stance of being anti-communist and pro-American. That is an intriguing point […]
18 March, 2022 I believe in the current dispensation. But in the interests of our republic, it is important that we have a reasonably strong pan-Indian opposition party. If for no other reason than the fact that a functioning democracy needs a strong opposition, many of us are disappointed with the steady decline of the […]
Feb 26, 2022 The passing of the incomparable Lata Mangeshkar gives us a chance to pause and pat ourselves on our backs. Our country, our culture, our civilization, if you will, have gifted to the world an extraordinary art form available virtually nowhere else. It may have been a new technology, but its father in India, […]
Feb 5, 2022 Even those bored with budgets had to admire FM’s refusal to use anti-business rhetoric. Budgets are important for newspaper editors and TV anchors. For the rest of us, it has increasingly become a time of yawning in a bored mood. Important matters, like the repeal of disastrous retrospective tax happen between budgets. […]
February 4, 2022 Budgets are important for newspaper editors and TV anchors. For the rest of us, it has increasingly become a time for yawning in a bored mood. Important matters, like the repeal of the disastrous retrospective tax happen between budgets. Very important matters like the return of Air India to its rightful original […]
27 January, 2022 Some 25 years ago, I lived in London. I remember that at odd places on different streets, there would be Oxfam outlets where earnest individuals would collect old clothes for distribution among the poor. A worthy Dharmic and Christian act, if I may say so, even at the risk of offending the […]
December 22, 2021 We have enough legends, stories and text to justify and praise the Kashi project. I only hope that the effort to reduce dirt and debris is taken up at other sites as well. There has been a lot of coverage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Kashi speech last week. Critics see his […]
Nov 07, 2021 In ‘Economist Gandhi’, author Jerry Rao places Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts on business and wealth management within the tradition of economic philosophy (Adam Smith to George Akerlof and Richard Thaler). And he expounds on the Mahatma’s ideas, including the importance of trusteeship. The most powerful arguments in favour of modern market capitalism have […]