Passionate About India

India’s scams and corruption are perennially ubiquitous – they keep recurring time and again. There is hardly a month that goes unnoticed without any major scam breaking out. It is not that there isn’t any scam elsewhere, but barring some sub-Saharan and Asian rogue states ruled by the junta, the scale and magnitude of Indian scams have outperformed every other nation by an unprecedented margin of frequency and scale. Typically, a scam exposé starts off with media frenzy and then gets lost into thin air! The typical Indian middle class’ short memories, inevitably brushes the scam off, and then the judiciary typically bails out the accused, and everything is business as usual. Even though media spotlight continues on the case for a while, the same mostly focuses on the economic aspect of it, largely ignoring the enormous social impact. Mostly, the multi-million dollar scams that prop up every now and then have huge negative externalities both at the regional and national level. Let...

I rarely watch TV as I don’t have one on my floor of our house! However, when there is some breaking news, my father calls me down to the ground floor (where he stays) to watch the same with him. So I really had no idea about the Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, a man I like, holding a press conference last Sunday where he lost his temper at some journalists. Of course, I was aware of the allegations made against the Zakir Hussain Trust about some hanky panky with government funds meant for physically challenged people. I also knew there was something about forged signatures of top officials of the Uttar Pradesh government. My first reaction was: this must be mere politics. But I was forced to take notice when dad told me that Arvind Kejriwal, the activist turned politician, is taking this issue seriously and raising serious questions about the integrity of the Union Law Minister on TV. If nothing else, the activist turned politician at least deserves our respect for his amazing di...

These have been truly turbulent years. Between then and now, we have seen Mayawati sweep Uttar Pradesh and then lose it badly. Between then and now, India has miserably lost the Cricket World Cup and then won it handsomely. Between then and now, the Indian economy has changed from being a rampaging elephant to a caged tiger once again. Between then and now, the three Khans of Bollywood have further cemented their supremacy over the box office. Between then and now, Rahul Gandhi has been transformed from being the latest Great White Hope to a question mark and an enigma. Between then and now, the loot and plunder of natural resources through crony capitalism have gathered momentum. Between then and now, Ratan Tata has endured the disgrace of Singur to fade triumphantly into retirement. Between then and now, Mamata Didi has remained Mamata Didi... So much has happened over the last six years that it would require many multiple books to chronicle contemporary history. And my readers know...

It is the race of a lifetime. Who is most likely to be the Prime Minister of India in 2014? That is the billion rupee question that this issue of TSI seeks to answer. In an exclusive survey, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi emerge as the two frontrunners. But by all accounts, it is going to be a close fight.   Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi are frontrunners for the Prime Minister's post in 2014. Would you say the two candidates are most appropriate, somewhat appropriate or not appropriate at all? Support for Rahul Gandhi among supporters of different parties  Net support for both leaders among supporters of different political parties Support for Narendra Modi among supporters of different parties   As Prime Minister, which politician according to you, would provide the most effective leadership to the country on the following issues: Has Narendra Modi's time finally come? That would be the germane of the exclusive survey condu...

In 1984, I was just 13 and way too young to know about a man called Yash Chopra. Having been brought up on just three films – The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and Sholay (my brother, sister and I were allowed to watch the first two almost every Sunday if we wanted to, and Sholay whenever dad was in an exceptional mood!) – Mashaal was unbelievably only the second Hindi film we had been allowed to watch. Mashaal was like a cult classic! Dilip Kumar was like my father, high on principles and therefore always winning enemies; and those days, I was often made to feel like the vagabond that Anil Kapoor played in the movie. The film made me feel good, for, as Anil Kapoor changed and became a hero, I felt I also had a hero inside. My dad liked the movie not because he ever believed that he would have a role reversal in his life like Dilip Kumar had in the movie, but because watching such a role reversal at least made him happy somewhere deep inside, for very often, we all feel like hitting ba...

So the fiery and often unpredictable “Didi” of Indian politics, Mamata Banerjee is all set to do what many felt was inevitable. Even as I write this, I honestly don’t know if the Trinamool Congress will actually walk out of the UPA or not. Nor do I know how Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Karunanidhi will act. Some friends tell me that the countdown to the end of this UPA regime has begun and that it is a matter of time before the Manmohan Singh government falls without completing its full term. Some other friends tell me that the Congress has legendary “management” skills in this field and will ride out of the storm. They point out to how a minority Manmohan Singh government won the trust vote in 2008 and how a minority P.V. Narashima Rao government won the trust vote in 1992. I really don’t believe that the survival-or-not of the UPA government is the most significant problem confronting India at this time. I think the real problem and the real challenge is the direction that ...

The Indian government is becoming a joke by the day! Now The Economist, my favorite magazine, has written about the irrelevance of Rahul Gandhi in an article asking, “What’s the point of Rahul Gandhi?” Before that, TIME magazine had dubbed our Prime Minister as an underachiever! The harsh truth is that the term ‘underachiever’ is such a mild word to use for a politically comatose man who has been literally sleep-walking in his monotone voice over his two stints.What a letdown for a democracy and the electorate, for never has India had a worse and more inactive man as its Prime Minister. And then, of course, Washington Post came down heavily on him. And what was the Indian government’s reaction? Well, like immature intolerant fools, they lodged an official protest – exposing to the world that the article was indeed right and more; exposing to the world the government’s mindset, which looks eerily similar to that of Mamata, who shows complete disdain for democratic values and goes about...