Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garcés is the elected chairperson-rapporteur of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group (OEIGWG) on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights. She is a top Ecuadorian politician and diplomat who is currently the ambassador of her nation to the UN Office at Geneva. Earlier, Garc&eacut
Bhaskar Chatterjee, director general and CEO of IICA (a think tank of ministry of corporate affairs), is a retired IAS officer. His current role is the logical followup to the last post he held, as secretary of the department of public enterprises (DPE). He spoke to Sweta Ranjan about his role in drafting the new Companies Act, which introduced the
Jeet Thayil, an Indian poet, novelist, librettist and musician, is well known for his first novel, Narcopolis that won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and was also shortlisted for Man Booker Prize and Hindu Literary Prize. He has worked as a journalist in Mumbai, New York and Bengaluru. Nowadays he focuses more on music and says no real musician likes to s
The national commission for women (NCW) aims to be more proactive. It is seeking more powers. However, the demands for punitive powers to arrest and imposition of penalty have been opposed by the law ministry. The chairperson of NCW Lalitha Kumarangamalam shares her views with Sweta Ranjan on these and other issues.
Nungshi and Tashi Malik have become the world’s first female twins to successfully climb the famed `Seven Summits` (highest peaks in all continents). They have achieved the success climbing Mt Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt Everest (Asia), Mt Elbrus (Europe), Mt Aconcagua (South America), Mt Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania), Mt McKinley (North America) and Mt Vinson
British journalist and health worker Shereen El Feki dared to rush where most fear to tread. But she’s nobody’s fool. She researched on sex in the Arab world. The result: her first book, Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World, has been nominated for the Guardian First Book Award and The Orwell Prize. She has served as vice-chair of the UN&rs
A 1978 batch IAS officer, Alok Ranjan is driving the development agenda of the Uttar Pradesh government in the run-up to 2017 assembly election. In an interview with Pratap Vikram Singh, Ranjan talks about administrative reforms in the state. How far have you succeeded in tackling the power crisis? We ar
Bittu Sahgal, environment activist and writer, is known for speaking about impacts of climate change. He was a member of the National Board for Wildlife of the ministry of environment and forests. Sahgal is also the founding editor of Sanctuary Asia, a wildlife and ecology magazine. He believes that though natural wealth has many claimants, in reality it belongs to
There are few actors in India who have personified historical figures. For a generation born after 1948, Mahatma Gandhi’s imagery fits into the role played by great actor Ben Kingsley who perfectly slipped into the character of the great soul. But Kingsley has an Indian parallel in Paresh Rawal who played the role of India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the biopic
The road ahead has many possibilities and Niti Aayog has to define many. In an interaction with Shubhendu Parth, Aayog’s member Bibek Debroy speaks about economy and issues before the new organisation: What is your assessment of the current economy? I think there is a question you have asked and there is a q
DR Dogra had spent long years with Credit Analysis and Research Limited (CARE), one of the leading credit rating agencies, before becoming its CEO and MD in August 2009. In an interview with Sweta Ranjan, he gives the rating agency’s perspective on financial inclusion. Excerpts: What is your perception about the Jan-Dhan yojana? One of the m
Usha Ananthasubramanian is the first head of India’s first bank meant for women. Set up in November 2013, Bharatiya Mahila Bank, is the youngest and smallest of the public sector banks, but is attracting attention thanks to its unique mandate. Ananthasubramanian spoke with Sweta Ranjan about the crucial aspect of gender in financial inclusion
Indira Iyer, a senior fellow at the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), has been studying financial inclusion. In her paper, ‘Financial inclusion in India: Why distinguishing between access and use has become even more important’, she suggests that in India “by the very definition of financial inclusion, the focus of the rhetor
Arun Tiwari, who joined the Union Bank of India as its CMD on December 26, 2013, began his career as a probationary officer in Bank of Baroda in 1979. He has worked in almost all key segments of banking in various capacities – across the country as well as abroad. In an interview with Sweta Ranjan, Tiwari talks about how his bank views the latest push for
Bimal Jalan, a former RBI governor, feels that PMJDY is a very “good idea” and with the intelligent use of technology it can be a useful instrument for financial inclusion. In a telephonic interview with Shishir Tripathi, Jalan says he does not see any “fault lines” that can challenge the implementation of Modi’s ambit
The assembly elections in Bihar are round the corner and parties are gearing up for action. After few hiccups, Sharad Yadav announced that RJD-JDU and Congress will fight the assembly elections in Bihar together. BJP is doing all kinds of calculations to make a statement in this poll. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a prominent face of BJP from Bihar and Union Minister for Skill Development
Ranjan Dhawan, executive director of Bank of Baroda, was entrusted with the additional charge of the managing director and CEO of the public sector banking giant on February 27. Before joining BoB as executive director in November 2012, he was the chief general manager of Punjab National Bank. With its vast network, BoB is a crucial player for financial inclusion.
SS Mundra took charge as the RBI deputy governor on July 31 last year. Previously, he was chairman and managing director of the second largest bank, Bank of Baroda, where he had started out in 1977 as a probationary officer. At the central bank, he looks after banking supervision, currency management, financial stability, rural credit and customer service. In an interview w
Urvashi Butalia is a publisher who along with Ritu Menon had co-founded Kali for Women, India’s first feminist publishing house in 1984. After the closure of Kali, she founded Zubaan as an imprint of Kali for Women, and continues to publish books on, for, by and about women in South Asia. She is a consultant for Oxfam India and has written prolifically on gen
If the prime minister’s vision comes true, by 2022 every family will have a pukka house with water and electricity connections. The Sardar Patel urban housing mission aims at making India slum-free in these seven years. Nandita Chatterjee, secretary, ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation (MHUPA), talks to Puja Bhattacharjee about the chall
