Reflections

Yet again, our nation has been shocked by a heinous terrorist attack – at Pulwama, martyring more than 40 of our brave CRPF personnel in the prime of life. My heart – numb with shock, can only pray to the Almighty to give strength to their families in this dark hour. Let us, before we analyse our options, spend a minute to think of what these families have lost; with grief in my heart, to those braves, I can only say : shat shat naman … may you Rest In Peace! MOVING AHEAD In this terrible hour, let us do our best to keep calm. This does not mean I recommend inaction; rather, let us allow our Government-   it is an excellent Government – to do its Job. Give them time and space to deal with the terror on their own terms. I do not advocate we forgive and / or forget; just that we remain calm, and confident that our Government is there to respond and deal with this . Building vocal pressure towards any particular response method – there are plenty of options {look below}...

BLACK MONEY AND TAX HAVENS Black Money has been the hot topic of discussion on Social Media as well as in the regular Media for several years now; yet, few books have come to my notice that deal with this topic. The current book under review – Thin Dividing Line : India Mauritius and Global Illicit Financial Flows by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta & Shinzani Jain is one book that breaks this trend, and takes a deep and in-depth look at at least one aspect of this matter in a no-holds barred factual and detailed analysis of Global “Hot Spots” aka Tax Havens. This is not easy territory to tread on; quite the reverse in fact. This is a complex topic at the best of times – in fact, it is more than complex. It does not make for easy study, or compilation, or sources, or indeed availability of facts and resources. You cant pick your facts easily; you have to hunt, study, research and go deep, be a miner and dig deeper than deep. This is also an approach that is bound to cause exce...

This week, just yesterday as a matter of fact, our Prime Minister landed in Israel  - the first ever Prime Ministerial visit to that nation from our side. This is a seminal event; yet, it was saddening to see some voices being guarded, as opposed to openly welcoming this move. In a democracy, it is perfectly fine if you don’t support the ruling party, having voted for the other side; it is accepted as well as expected that you criticize – but when the Government does something laudable – you should welcome it. This move by the NaMo Government stands in that list; a fully laudable move, one that we would do well to welcome, leaving our apprehensions aside for the time being. On that other hand – this is not a time for chest-thumping either; let us reflect what this move means for us as a nation, and analyse the pluses and the minuses of this new equation. Whatever else we look at, this is not the time for misguided moralistic analyses – Geopolitics is not a field that lends it...

The election of Trump as POTUS had got the right wing in India in a celebratory mode; there were hopes of this event having a positive impetus on the Indo-US relationship. This hope was, at the outset, a wildly optimistic hope, given that Trump was elected on a protectionist rhetoric, a message of bringing jobs back to The USA; this was, however, ignored in the larger light of his views on terrorism as well as other factors, which seemed to indicate good tidings. In the approximately 100-odd days since his taking over as POTUS, however, early indicators have given enough reason for the more optimistic among us Indians to become far more realistic; Trump as a President has done exactly as he has promised – which is admittedly a surprise even to me. Frankly, on one side, it is good to see a politician walking the talk in the USA. That said, the other side of the equation has given rise to many, many deep rooted questions which need answering for us. His focus on creating Jobs i...

TRUMPED! The title says it all : the whole world, it seems, has been trumped, or rather, to be accurate : Trumped. That capital “T” is rather important, you know. And thus it is that one of the most idiotic, amusing, divisive, unfathomable and surprisingly illogically logical elections comes to its conclusion, the swansong of what I can only call “ The Trumpection ”. For this wasn’t a normal event, this beloved “Trumpection”; it was an event unto itself, a roller coaster, amusing and hilarious event. {Sorry, my American friends, but from where I stand, it was, well, Hilarious!} I know that at least I looked up Trumpection at the end of a hard day for a barrel of laughs. I enjoyed it, and will certainly miss the entertainment provided by Trumpection! But, sadly, all good things must come to an end; there are only so many slices you can cut out of a Chocolate Cake, you know. My regular readers will by now have no doubt noted a marked shift from my normal analytical, factual, ...

Why cant we, as a nation, develop a self-confidence in our own ability, back ourselves, realize our own power and back it to the hilt? In recent times, there has been one indication – when in the negotiations on trade when India stood firm over food security, against the entire world – which was an indication of our power and the strength of our resolve as well as our reputation. And yet, this confidence is at times absent in our strategic and economic thinking at an individual level, when we tend to idolize over relations and closeness to one nation or the other, usually the USA. Let us study this in the context of and  the example of the USA, for the simple reason that it is the most powerful pull for some Indians. The increasing tendency of us Indians to go ballistic over  the USA, and our relationship with them needs highlighting; there is no need whatsoever to treat the USA with kid gloves; high time we took it on head-on; the structure of the Global Economy will ...

It is said by many that one of the highpoints is the excellent personal rapport NaMo has with other leaders, and how it will benefit  FP. Maybe, maybe not; again, time will tell. As on date, the result is zero. Precisely zero, and hoopla, based on myth and an incomplete understanding and media hype. I do not deny benefits of a personal rapport; but let us not overstate it. Personal Rapport and Cultural Ties are only door openers, and are completely useless when the door is already open, In Foreign Policy, the $ and the Bullet {meaning brute power} reigns supreme. Further, it is noteworthy that the same Prime Minister of India, before he became a Prime Minister, was targeted and branded {almost} by Western Nations as something less than nice. And now, the moment he becomes Prime Minister, the same nations’ leaders’, who previously branded Mr Narendra Modi without any proof whatsoever, flouting all international norms – which tantamounts to intervention in Indian affair...