Passionate About India

On 11th June 2016, I read an article on IndiaTimes that said,  and I quote: Blaming the decrease in Hindu population in India on impotency of men, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia has urged Hindu men to “go home and worship your manhood.” Addressing a gathering in Gujarat on Friday, he asked Hindu couples to have more children to counter the growing number of Muslims in India. Togadia also blamed “love jihad” and conversion to Christianity for slipping percentage of Hindu population… He also questioned the Narendra Modi government’s policies of development without offering protection to Hindus. The VHP leader said, “You are making bullet trains, smart cities, but who will travel in the trains if there is no Hindu?” On 20th July 2016, I read in The Huffington Post: On Tuesday, members from the Punjab unit of the Shiv Sena allegedly stopped trucks on their way to Jammu and Kashmir and forced the Muslim drivers to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’… Of the many things ultrana...

After writing 'The Great Indian Dream' and running a blog, 'Passionate about India' for over a decade, today I feel uncomfortable promoting any message that sounds 'over' patriotic. Thus, happy to share these two lovely quotes by two of India's greatest thinkers... And pass on a message to all my friends to love India very much, and yet, not get carried away by the love so much that we start hating anyone else! Cheers and Happy Independence Day! Know more about Arindam or get in touch with him: https://youtube.com/c/DrArindamChaudhuri www.Instagram.com/dr.ArindamChaudhuri https://m.imdb.com/name/nm1374768/ https://www.ft.com/content/57cb97bc-f3db-11da-9dab-0000779e2340?segmentid=acee4131-99c2-09d3-a635-873e61754ec6 https://elitedelhimagazine.wordpress.com/2018/10/21/the-mega-disruptor-and-godfather-of-private-education-in-india/ https://www.abillionleaders.com/media-feedback.html https://m.businesstoday.in/story/best-b-schools-iipm-arindam-chaudhuri/1/188870...

The big question that people have in mind the moment they hear of NITI Aayog is, is this something like Gurugram – just a change in the name with everything else remaining the same? Most people i speak to seem to think so. And that doesn’t sound too exciting, given the amount that needs to be done in the nation. The truth is, the Planning Commission indeed needed changes. Sweeping changes. And the thought was indeed in the right direction by Modi. Having been a member of the consultative committee to the Planning Commission of India briefly, and then interacting with its members, I know first hand the lack of dynamism and focus that was there in the Planning Commission. In any case, the Planning Commission of India had become a pure insult to the word “planning” within a few years of its setting up. The word planning has to necessarily be inclusive of people and the masses as that’s where the centre of focus should be. What we had in India was hardly ever planning. Yes, the idea...

What’s gone wrong with the Congress? My answer is: nothing! Absolutely nothing new has gone wrong with the Congress Party. If there was anything wrong, it’s been for about 70 years. There is nothing new that has happened. The media painted these elections as the wipeout of Congress and the mega win of BJP. I am totally stunned as to how the conclusion was reached. Which party ever (apart from the extreme case of CPM through brutal force and scientific rigging) has ever come back to power after 15 continuous years in power. The anti incumbency was sure to take its toll in Assam and Kerala. And yet, in these five state elections, Congress won almost double of BJP’s 64 seats; their winning ratio per seat contested was three times that of BJP. All of BJP seats came virtually from one of the five states while Congress’ seats were well distributed in all states. It’s also strange that the Congress PR machinery too – after two weeks of the same – failed to put this simple point across. Tho...

Kudos to TO I, Advocate Ravindra Bana and the sensitiveness of a bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and N. V. Rama n, this Supreme court ruling can change India One of the most embarrassing aspects of Bengali culture has been the act of taking one’s aging mother or aunt for “teerth” or trip to holy places. Not that it’s a bad idea. But often it has been observed that while on visit to a place like Vrindavan, the son would make his mother sit somewhere saying he is just coming and would then disappear forever. The mothers, mostly being uneducated and with no means to go back, would end up spending their lives on the streets in these places. And the son would go back home and announce that he lost his mother in the crowd or that she passed away and he did her last rites there itself and came back. Thus, streets of places like Gaya, Varanasi, Vrindavan have many homeless widows – a large proportion from Bengal (not that this tradition is completely absent in people from other states)....

OUR READERS HAVE ALWAYS LOVED TSI'S THOUGHT LEADERSHIP POSITION What a pleasure it is always to sit down to write the editorial of this creation of sheer passion Sunday Indian. As we begin a new journey with a whole new look to this magazine with a broader layout, better paper quality and totally changed masthead and design template, I must say that there is one thing that has not changed and that is the quality of journalism is magazine stood for not just truth but hard-hitting truth. It stood for not just reporting but incisive and intellectual analysis. In eect, it has actually hardly been a newsmagazine, it has actually been a news analysis tool. Our readers, that cut across students to teachers to politicians and even media leaders, have always loved the thought leadership position we took. Despite being philosophically to the le_ of the center, we took the lead in demolishing the myth of CPM’s bhadrolok image in Bengal, even at the cost of considerable vindictive targe...

The big news of the day isn't that Americans have shown that they are more intelligent than Trump thought by handing him a defeat in the Iowa primaries.. the big news is -as I hoped last night- that there could be a genuine political "revolution" taking place in America which could be great for the world!! The stats are mind-boggling. Hillary Clinton with all her political force is holding on to a mere 0.2% lead against Bernie Sanders -the self proclaimed socialist -as almost 99% of results get declared!! That's how close its gotten!! The latest update shows, "Sanders was doing extremely well among younger people. He was getting the support of 84 percent of those under 30 and 58 percent of those 30 to 45. Clinton was very strong among older people; she was getting the support of 58 percent of those 45 to 64 and 69 percent of those over 65. Sanders support came from liberal Democrats. Those who call themselves very liberal favored him over Clinton, 58 percent to 3...