Writings that made me pause & think this week

First, J Sai Deepak’s piece on how “‘Majoritarianism’ is used to gaslight Hindus”. I have posted a brief excerpt on my blog but do read it in full to get the full argument.

I stumbled on 2 fascinating threads on Acharya J C Bose: this (by @sandipanthedeb and this (by @paperclip_in which reminded me of the post from my blog on this Unsung Hero…

HBR published a piece on the India story, “Does Your Company Have an India Strategy?” which is worth a read. Read it alongside NoahOpinion’s piece on India. Brief excerpt below:

 The World Economic Forum summarizes it well: “In terms of sheer numbers, the largest urban transformation of the 21st century is … happening in India.” The share of middle class in India increased from 14% in 2005 to 31% in 2021, and is expected to further increase to 63% by 2047. Similar estimates come from Frost & Sullivan, which estimates that the share of people in India who are poor will continue to dwindle, and while the middle class grows, doubling its percentage from 28.5% in 2019 to 53.8% in 2030. ?Middle class is defined as Indian households earning between $6,700 to $40,000, measured in 2020 US Dollars, which adjusted for purchasing power parity, equates to $22,700 to $136,000 in the US.

Even a small change in the percentage change of middle class means a lot because of the India’s large population base. At 1.43 billion, it is now the most populous country in the world and is about twice the size of US and EU populations put together. (The populations of US and EU are 334 million and 447 million, respectively.)

Roughly 25 percentage point change, from 28.5% to 53.8%, even at the current population base, means 350 million people, which is more than the EU’s population. 

Next is a sharp tweet from Brahma Chellaney:

France has arrested over 1,000 in the current protests. In Canada, Trudeau declared an emergency to crush peaceful protests. In the US, police killings of civilians have crossed 1,000 for three consecutive years. Imagine the Western reaction had such excesses occurred in India.

And finally, this piece from the fading years of the Trump presidency but probably still relevant: The Outrage-Industrial Complex by Prof Richard Thompson Ford, Stanford Law School. 

Have a fruitful week ahead.