Not many people outside West Bengal had heard of Tapas Pal till yesterday. Not many people will know Tapas, possibly after tomorrow. But for two days, Pal, a yesteryear Bengali matinee hero with one film (Abodh) with Madhuri Dixit, has suddenly become the talk of the town. For his filthy and yet asinine remarks. On Tuesday, he was trending on Twitter nationally – certainly a first
The budget which finance minster Arun Jaitley (a renowned lawyer himself) presents on July 10 is likely to carry the baggage of Right to Food which the UPA II thrust on the reigning government. Happily or unhappily he is slated to set aside a huge corpus for the Act whose time has not come yet. It would be plain ignorance on my part if I could wish the Narendra Modi government would hav
Growing discontent in Indian democracy over the last few years is a cause of concern. The country has more than 65 percent of its population below the age of 35 and will become the world’s youngest country with 64 percent of its population in the working age group by 2020. This would put pressure on the government for providing employment opportunities and citizen-centric governance.
India`s big companies now have an extended responsibility on hand - of turning the `do good` stipulation of the government - indeed `good`. Because social responsibility is not demonstrated by choosing from a basket of ‘good deeds’. Neither can good deeds offset bad ones. The R in CSR (corporate social responsibility), in its true sense, refers to the application of sincere conscience on the p
Internet has been rife with debates, articles and arguments over whether Facebook should collect user data or not to target advertisements. But make no bones about it; Facebook was always collecting your data. Those small ads on the left side of the screen? They were a result of all the things you ‘liked’ on the social networking site or searched for on your computer
So it’s a row over front-row seats that led to the Preity Zinta-Ness Wadia spat, you say? I say it’s way more serious an issue than to be merely dismissed with the irritated bat of an eyelid, or frustrated thwack on the thigh before both the
Prime minister Narendra Modi could be considered a lucky man, for he is reaping the benefits of what UPA sowed. Somewhere in 2010, when I was working with a prominent business newspaper, my then editor had raised the very issue which the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has captured in its report that has taken the nation by storm: that many NGOs are coming in the way of development, and are lending a
Of the three elements of good governance, prime minister Narendra Modi has touched on two, and must now complete the triad. The meeting of the PM with the 77 secretaries closely followed the pledge in the BJP manifesto for “open, transparent and systems based government” and “pro-active pro-people good governance”. The manifesto, in the section on institut
Robert D Blackwill, former US ambassador to India (2001-03), in his physical impression can be somewhat deceptive. When sitting he appears to be almost diminutive but is tall even by American standards and his kindly, almost absent-minded face does not prepare you for the sharp repartees that come your way ever so often in the course of a conversation. Who else could describe Lee Kuan Yew`s rel
All over the world, an element of theatre has always been a part of politics. In contemporary times, 24x7 media coverage has embellished the political theatre with touches of reality television. In our country, Narendra Modi has proved to be a master of using the changing media language to his advantage. He instinctively translates abstract political messages into palpable images, and thus touc
World Environment Day held since 1972 in the month of June stimulates awareness of the environment and enhances political action. After a period of forty years the international scientific community is calling for a deeper involvement of the social sciences and considering human-environment interaction not in term of trade-offs to protect nature but how best to serve society for the longer term
The new Companies Act 2013 recognises that companies emerge from the rich diversity and economic culture within India. CSR acknowledges the need for companies to contribute back to the societies they come from. One of the best ways to contribute is to strengthen this rich economic culture that is the culture of self-employment. Unlike many developed and developing countries, over
The first reactions to the denial of anticipatory bail of the Facebook user from Goa, Devu Chodankar, would obviously be full of condolences to the death of freedom of expression in India. Come on! Impending arrest for an innocent Facebook post? Really? A harmless, innocent post on a one of the many group pages on a social networking couldn’t mean anything. Of course it is the dawn of the
The foreign policy of a major power seeking to influence world events has to be based on a national consensus to have the assurances other countries would require for stable relations over the longer term. Narendra Modi now has the national vote, the stock market and foreign institutional investors have given their full confidence and have high expectations and the world is watching to see whet
For the party that believes information technology is a big enabler for empowerment, equity and efficiency, will the ascent of BJP into power mean the end of road for Aadhaar? While Nandan Nilekani, the former chairman of the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI), and the Manmohan Singh government had been projecting Aadhaar as the essential tool to drive several socia
There was a time when elections were a backbreaking, time-consuming process – and counting more so. Each ballot had to be counted, and often recounted. And between the two arduous chapters of what sugar-sweet analysts genially call celebration or festival of democracy came the even more arduous – and tense and risky – phase of keeping the sealed ballot boxes out of harm’
About two weeks back, a respected and highly accomplished independent director of Infosys tweeted saying; – “At a recent Infy board meeting, I was most impressed by Rohan Murty`s brilliant tech-loaded presentation, which will enormously benefit Infy." She withdrew it in haste little while later, saying she was carried by the brilliance she saw in the presentation in wrongly twe
For long during the 34 years of the Left Front administration in West Bengal, the Congress had an ‘explanation’ for the Front’s sweep: scientific rigging. The accusation was hurled especially at the CPI(M), the leading partner of the Front in both the state and nationally. The opposition party in the state – subsequently the opposition parties, after Mamata Baner
The success of any policy or programme depends on how well we understand the human behaviour. Over time the evidence from psychology, sociology, neuroscience and other disciplines has found humans are not so rational. Such evidence needs to be taken into account by policy makers and implementers. A clear understanding of human behaviour – including appreciation of certain biases &
He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. But since it would be a bit too harsh a proverb to use for the occasion, let’s just say he who tweets to embarrass others often gets embarrassed on Twitter. Congress party general secretary Digvijay Singh is learning it. The “hard way” or not is for him to figure out. For the moment, let’s just say the disconcerting way.
