Passionate About India

Sometimes the reason for jubilation, even if it is emphatic, is kept under fold lest it angers the nay-sayers. This is perhaps the best way to define the reaction of the Indian government when the landmark nuclear deal was ratified by the both the American Senate and the Congress with an overwhelming majority. Coming a long way from the days when India took pride in being a proponent of an obscure NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) whose efficacy and existence was at best irrelevant for the rest of the world. We for long meandered naively through the dark woods of geo-politics, suffered from a sense of identity crisis and saw many of our compatriots, who were behind us on every front, literally gate-crashing to almost catch up with the First World countries, while we kept languishing. We probably missed every opportunity that made South East Asia what it is today, that made China and South Korea what they are today. And then, by default, we boarded the software bus and started a journey on a n...

When the Left came to power about 30 years back in West Bengal, the then Finance Minister of West Bengal Shri Ashok Mitra had said that “we will give the capitalists sleepless nights”... That may not have been the most appropriate thing to dream about but then that’s what the Left was supposed to be. At that time a sceptic who didn’t believe that the communists in India are that dedicated had written a poem stating that in this regime, capitalists will make so much money that they will obviously not be able to sleep in the nights, busy counting their money! As Budhadeb Bhattacharya goes on to say that he is the middleman of all capitalists (of course for the benefit of his people), that sceptic must be having the last laugh… So what is the issue? Well, Ratan Tata, certainly a good hearted gentleman wants to give India a Rs one lac car – against all market realities (all researches point out that such a car doesn’t have a viable demand in India). Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, our new face of ...

Last night I watched Rang De Basanti again, and as usual the film ended leaving my eyes moist. Ironically, the film might be fiction but the death of Flt. Lieutenant Ajay Rathore is not. For, there are numerous such Ajay Rathores who had to sacrifice their lives (and are risking lives even today) because our so called premier research organisation the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) could not come up with a replacement for the ageing MiG-21s in the last 23 years.The third generation LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) Tejas is at best a technology demonstrator, and would take another three to four years for completion with full weaponisation and an indigenous engine. For all the tall claims of making India self-sufficient in defence production, it is quite a shame that the three prototypes being flown right now, fly with engines given by American company GE (General Electric). And probably all the 20 LCAs that are now on order from the Indian Air Force would fly with GE en...

Last week, a leading media house organised a conclave in which the who’s who of Indian Polity, Civil Society and global leaders came and spoke on what they think about India’s future potential. They also talked of how eventually India is going to tread on the path of becoming a major economic and military powerhouse, while remaining a democratic (ahem!!), secular and truly sensitive society (sigh!!). It was indeed inspirational as the global leaders showered adjectives like ‘Super Power’, ‘Knowledge Superpower’, ‘melting pot of politics, culture and ethos’ etc., for India. All that is fine, but I wonder as to which India were they referring to. And I fear that we are increasingly thinking about, and building & taking only a miniscule part of urban India towards the growth trajectory, whereas the majority of rural India is being comprehensively neglected and calculatively forgotten. It is hypocritical that amidst all the developments that we boast of, we forget that it is the same n...

This time, when I was actually thinking about the issue to cover in the TSI editorial, I had initially thought about writing how the Americans exhibited the true essence of democracy and proved that even if the American government might be inhuman in more than one ways, the common American is still left with humanity within himself. But at the last moment, I had to change my plan when I had a chance to glimpse through the latest copy of UNDP’s Human Development Report 2006. Well, for those who aren’t much enlightened about this report (you need not be in any case; after all, this enlightenment brings with it more depressing shadows than any radiance), to tell you in brief, this study essentially ranks the quality of life in terms of life expectancy, adult literacy rate, enrolment in primary, secondary and tertiary education and GDP per capita of most of the UN member countries on whom data is available. For any concerned Indian to go through this report is an agony since a glance shows...

The verdict on Saddam is out. The striking aspect of this news coverage were the two contrasting scenarios that evolved in most of the media reports globally. One was that of the celebration (on account of the verdict) within the Shia community of Baghdad, while the other was the contrast of despair and angst amongst the Sunnis. This, perhaps, is not just about Baghdad alone. Throughout the world, reactions have been divided between the Shias or Sunnis. And I have a strong feeling that the ramification of this verdict would be beyond the capacity of Americans to control. Iraq would once again erupt in another round of violence of vengeance, and probably the Sunnis, who have been at the receiving end, would fight back, amply aided this time by the Sunni dominant nations of the Middle East. And if the US stays on, then all that would go back is the number of body bags.I am not trying to justify that Saddam did not get the right verdict, neither am I portraying him as a ‘would be’ martyr....

Finally the verdict is out. It’s death to Priyadarshini Mattoo’s killer. And after being anti -capital punishment for as long as I can remember, I wanted death for the killer and am celebrating the punishment. For years, I looked at death sentence from a purely academic perspective of the role of a civilised society and how society can help reform people through education... appreciating Kiran Bedi’s work to reform people and deeply appreciating the humanity displayed by Sonia Gandhi in excusing Rajiv’s killers... and believing that as an educationist, I should always believe that we can educate wrongdoers into becoming better citizens.To me, the Priyadarshini Mattoo case was just another case of rape and murder, which I felt would not get justice due to our limping judiciary. And to me, the only way to avoid more such cases was to speed up the judicial process so that the fathers of victims too don’t feel raped and murdered, while waiting for justice – like the family of the tandoor m...