Passionate About India

Just a couple of months back, the entire global media fraternity was talking about the next probable war between China and Japan over the issue of a small group of islands in the East China Sea. Just when people thought that the issue was cooling down, last month, a delegation of former US officials submitted a report to Hillary Clinton that the dispute could spin out of control and result into a military confrontation; add to that China’s recently declared intentions to deploy marine surveillance drones to track maritime activity around the cluster of islands from where the conflict originated. The entire issue is certainly far from over, with both the nations in no mood to step back. There is, of course, nothing new in the conflict between Japan and China. Through centuries, these two Asian neighbours have been brutal to each other – politically, economically and militarily. The Japanese monarchy before World War II was notable for their imperialistic intentions – they invaded C...

WE MUST STOP SELLING OURSELVES TO RECESSION-STRUCK WESTERN COUNTRIES WHO ARE IN SEARCH OF PROFITS FROM INDIA AND WE SHOULD STOP OUR QUEST FOR NUCLEAR ENERGY. BY ARINDAM CHAUDHURI I have heard that in African countries, hunters find it tough to catch monkeys and in order to do so successfully, they place a jar with a small opening filled with nuts near the trees. The jar is so designed that it allows a monkey’s hand to go inside, but once in, the monkey finds it difficult to take it out. Most of the time, the monkey stays there as it is unwilling to let go of the nuts. These peanuts which trap a monkey are actually unrealistic desires of this animal! This is what brings me to the point I want to write on. There is no secret that we evolved from apes and thus few actions of ours closely relate to similar behaviour. Our penchant for having nuclear energy is quite similar, wherein we have no idea where it is going to lead us to. And unfortunately, right now we are unable to see beyond the ...

Yes! Indeed the western recession is really the beginning of good news for India! But to understand that, I’ve to take you away from the topic of western recession for a while... to the Japanese recession! For years, I’ve admired the Japanese style of management as a management teacher and given its examples in scores of my workshops. However, over the last one decade or so, I’ve been continuously facing one key question from my workshop participants – mostly CEOs from top corporations of India Incorporated. Their question to me invariably has been, ‘If the Japanese management style is as wonderful as described, then why has Japan been in a recession for the last decade and more?’ This question is what I guess one needs to understand first, if one has to really understand the beauty of the current western recession. My answer to this question has always been very simple. I believe culture plays a very important part in shaping up economies. What succeeds in one culture fails somewhere ...