The prime minister’s call to 77 secretaries to the government of India to support a transformation as they prepare their budget proposals is timely. Linking it with ‘outcomes’, identifying deliverables and regular review meetings will not, however, lead to a transformation in the absence of hard political choices, identifying national priorities and re-allocating budgetary res
Earlier this year, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement [LARR] Act, 2013 was brought into force, replacing the archaic Land Acquisition Act of 1894. The new legislation, in the works for several years, is an effort to address the historical injustice dealt upon land owners facing unscrupulous agencies of acquisitio
The old boys know it and so do the young upstarts. The world of the internet is never going to be the same. That’s the gist of two fascinating days of debates, discussions and breakout sessions at CyFy 2014: The India Conference on Cyber Security and Cyber Governance. Every single expert from almost every single corner of the networked world said the nuts and bolts of the internet governa
Chaudhary Charan Singh is arguably one of the most enigmatic political personalities of independent India. His political life, effectively covering five decades (1937-87), borrows the best from the freedom struggle led by stalwarts of the Gandhi-Nehru era, even as it leaves a dubious legacy for his political successors. Truly, this former prime minister is an enigma that gets adequately unravel
The Narendra Modi juggernaut continues to move forward. With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging as a victor in the Maharashtra and Haryana vidhan sabha elections, the Modi phenomenon is pushing political opponents towards political irrelevance. Setback for coalition politics The results of the vidhan sabha elections indicate that the electorat
I have always doubted the genuineness of the ‘audience-poll’ lifeline that Amitabh Bachchan gives his ‘hot-seat’ participant at his popular quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). I question the authenticity of the practice when the participant decides his answer on the basis of what the majority of the audience present at the show chooses to be the right answer.
What’s so auspicious about October 17, 2014 that the Narendra Modi government decided to go to the supreme court and filed an application stating that names of people with black money in foreign bank accounts cannot be revealed due to restrictions under the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA)? It’s not as if the government, its ministers and mandarins, woke up yesterd
The monsoon clouds that had arrived earlier this year would soon be retreating, marking the end of yet another cycle of rain. Meanwhile, the cloud (computing) direction papers that the government of India had brought out earlier this year are awaiting an effective formation. Cloud computing seems to have moved quite a bit in terms of enterprise adoption ever since the government announce
The Digital India agenda has created opportunities for many ministries and departments of the government to come together and develop integrated solutions. But many technology providers, and indeed even some policy planners, have begun to consider Digital India opportunity as synonymous to the development of smart cities and the “Internet of Everything”. In reality, t
Prime minister Narendra Modi may or may not have put the so-called gag order on his ministers from interacting with the media. While there is no confirmation on any such official gag order, reporters covering ministries, and even cabinet committee briefings, talk about such an order from the highest echelons. The idea, it appears, is to prevent the ministers from putting their fo
Demands have been raised for a judicial inquiry into the recent floods in Jammu and Kashmir. Two reasons are being given to argue that it was a manmade disaster – construction of a road-cum-dam that caused more than 20 percent blockade in the flow of the river and the delayed opening of the flood gates of the Dal. The question is whether these are primary or contributory causes of the dis
To my mind, more important than the Narendra Modi bandwagon’s huge US success, the Oscar for courage, conviction and commitment goes to a man called John Michael D’Cunha. He is a judge in the Bangalore special court looking into the disproportionate assets case against former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, and is the first judicial official in the history of our c
A few years back there were half a million websites in India. Only 20,000, however, were in Indian languages. Today there are over nine million websites, but the number of websites in local languages has lagged behind. Sending and receiving emails in multiple Indian languages was introduced many years back. Since then, however, except for a moderate growth in the use of local languages in socia
The unmitigated arrogance of the returning NRI. Instant coffee observations. Begins at the airport where the stampede out of the aircraft is viewed with globally travelled contempt. Then the slowness of the Immigration, way down from the impressive speed of the recent past. Empty seats beyond the counter, like pulled-out teeth, greet the Indian traveller. Narendra Modi’s ma
BJP wipes out a huge BE (Brand Equity) gained (for itself) in a day - in just a day. Alas it deprives us all – all Indians – a very good chance of reaping the benefit from the noble thought of the Prime Minister – Shri Narendra Modi. That thought was indeed exemplary and highly actionable. For sure,
They should take the Statue of Liberty and ship it to England. Not so much for taking in of the wretched and the poor but certainly for the less than huddled masses who are currently taking the whiplash of empire building to the cleaners under a system called the `welfare state.` Whenever I visit England I am amazed at the incredible tolerance with which the people accept the bla
Once again the issue of whistle-blowing on corruption and impropriety, and protection for individuals who blow the whistle is in the limelight. This, even as the central and state governments and the central vigilance commission (CVC) drag their feet over operationalising the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2011 enacted in May 2014. In a country where whistling and making catcall
The abolition of the Planning Commission serves as a shock to catalyse real reform. In establishing the functions and composition of the new Think Tank to replace the Planning Commission, the prime minister will have to decide whether India will remain a static agrarian rural society or become an industrial urban society, and cities are at the centre of the fast expanding global economy.
After three weeks of dithering, Shaun Wright finally resigned on Tuesday. Shaun Who? The South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner was in the middle of a storm ever since a report detailed widespread child sex abuse in the UK’s Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Wright was in charge of children`s services in Rotherham between 2005 and 2010. Now, Wright was not accu
He worked. He fell ill. He died. In Saudi Arabia. Two days ago. He contracted the MERS coronavirus* and his family is reluctant to repatriate the remains back home amid fears that they might get infected if they came in contact with the body. Arab News carried a front page report that has become a global measure for where love has gone. Out of the window. Dasharati Satta
