From Sh S Gurumurthy‘s damning expose of missing millions, pay-offs and unaccounted wealth, “Zero tolerance, secret billions”, some excerpts (emphasis added):
…Following Rajiv and forgetting Indira, Sonia Gandhi proclaimed ‘zero tolerance’ to corruption at a party rally in Allahabad in November 2010. She repeated it at the Congress plenary in Delhi weeks later. Asking the cadre to take the corrupt head on, she said that her party was ‘prompt’ in acting against the corrupt; ‘never spared the corrupt’ because corruption impedes development’. This was almost how Rajiv Gandhi spoke in the …

Dear All, this is a lazy post – borrowing heavily from earlier posts by Atanu Dey and RealityCheck…In fact, it borrows from RC’s post to such an extent that this could have been a guest post by him (except that I have taken large chunks out to get to the main point). This matter is close to my heart and I am keen to have an extensive debate on this matter…Please do share your thoughts and ideas via the comments section below. But first, some extracts from “On the United …

Last week, I spent a thought-provoking few hours in an intense discussion with a small group of friends in Delhi. In a fortuitous coincidence, this was the same place where I had a discussion more than 2 years ago that shaped many of my activities in 2009-2010.  I shared my observations and experiences from travels and meetings over the last two years…We also discussed some very fundamental and critical questions that need to be satisfactorily answered for this effort to succeed…Below is a brief summary* of these discussions. Please do contribute …

Thanks to Sanjay for alerting me to this sharp and insightful speech by Prof Jagdish Bhagwati, titled, “This is how economic reforms have transformed India“, from which these excerpts (emphasis added):
…the naysayers, among them the socialists in the currently ruling Congress Party, have rejected the ‘miracle’ produced by the reforms by asserting darkly that the growth ‘lacks a human face’, that it is not ‘inclusive’, that the gains have accrued to the rich while the poor have been immiserized, that inequality has increased, and that India stands condemned before the …

Once again, M J Akbar says it like only he can:
The Urdu paper theory is, in brief, that 26/11 was organised to kill Hemant Karkare, a brave police officer, because he was on the verge of exposing Hindu zealots. This implies that Hindu zealots came to a deal with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose leader Hafiz Saeed was so delighted that, with the help of ISI, he armed and trained 10 young men, and sent them on Jihad to India so that Hindu zealots might be protected!
I …

Earlier this week, Anshuman Rawat published an interview with me on League of India. I am reproducing it below in full. Comments/thoughts welcome, as always.
*** Interview Begins ***

1. When and why did you decide to cut down on your life of a global business professional and immerse yourself into ideas aimed at improving political systems and governance in India? At the same time, talking in management terms, does this earnest endeavour-of-heart include an intrinsic exit plan too?
The change happened in the early months of 2008. There were several triggers…
The …

Offered without comment, this statement from Minister for corporate affairs Salman Khurshid, admitting that “Congress chief Sonia Gandhi wields the ‘real power’ in the UPA coalition“:

Sonia Gandhi is the real power…but the PM is the real PM.

Past quotes are here. Image courtesy: Congress (I) website

Dear All: It is my great pleasure to publish this guest post by Marie-Lou Fernandes IPS , former DCP, Mumbai City, a good friend and above all, a concerned fellow citizen.  Marie-Lou had an illustrious career before she ran foul of the powers-that-be (no points for guessing why) . I hope to carry an interview with her in one of the future posts. For now, read her thoughts on why good governance matters – even in India (emphasis added).
*** Good Governance Matters, In India by Marie-Lou Fernandes ***
There is a …

These “inconvenient questions” have been pending in my drafts folder for a while now…I was reminded of them after reading a recent article by Sh Ram Jethmalani. I hope the “Youth Icon/Messiah/Hope/Pride” etc etc finds a few minutes to answer/ respond to some of them…But first, some context (emphasis added)
Seeking votes in favour of party nominee…the Congress’ youth icon (said), “I have got better experience of politics than those who travel in air-conditioned vehicles; do not eat the food of commoners and do not live the life of a common …

One of the strongest theme in the narrative about India’s potential as a “superpower” is its youthful demographics (almost half of the population under the age of 25). Like many of us, I too have been guilty of publicly trumpeting this factor – and mentioning this as one of the reasons why this century can be an “Indian century“.
But last week I stumbled on Prof Kartik Hosanagar’s article on this topic…and that gave me cause to re-think. Here is Prof Hosanagar – in his own words (emphasis mine):
This (India’s demographic …