Articles
In earlier exclusives, I have dealt with two crucial issues: 1) Unemployment, especially youth unemployment due to which our youthful demographics is wasted. And 2) increasing inequalities of incomes and weath. To recap, the following pie-chart summerises the unemployment situation in India according to the “Mood of the nation”..By Philip Mudartha
Inequalities in Incomes and wealth declined since independence due to the socialist policies adopted by successive Congress-led governments till mid-1980s. The land re-distribution laws enacted by the state governments, especially in the communist ruled states contributed most. In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
At the markets in Navi Mumbai where I shop for groceries, vegetables and fruits, young women and girl-children accost me and implore to buy garbage bags for a few tens of rupees. I wonder if they earn enough for two square meals a day. Then there are Swiggy, Zomato and other platforms whose delivery boys arrive at our door-steps with freshly cooked food from restaurants, daily essentials like fresh milk, eggs and bread etc. Have you wondered what they must be earning per day?...[By Philip Mudartha]
Given the political and highly contestable nature of the Ayodhya conflict, the 9th November 2019 unanimous verdict by a five-judge constitution bench expectedly continues to generate contrasting opinions. The bench had ruled that the entire 2.77 acres of..
After the hiatus of two months, I resume the series of exclusive articles. There wasn’t a dearth of news stories relevant to you. However, I must admit that my readers have been less than enthusiastic to express their views on these exclusives. Which, of course, affected my motivation
In April 1920, the World War-I Allies divided the former territories of the defeated Ottoman Empire. Syria and Lebanon went to France. Great Britain got Palestine. However, the Palestinian Arabs wanted an..
During the last decade of 19th century, a minority of Eastern European Jews rejected assimilation as minorities. Some others developed the modern European notion of nationalism. The emergence of nationalism deepened the Jewish existential crisis and Jews were forced to
In my previous article, I referred to Fred Jerome’s book “Einstein on Israel and Zionism”. I read it with my subscription to internet archive which gave me the accurate picture of Einstein as a human-being of very high moral calibre though irreligious. The full texts of Einstein’s letter to Nehru
Einstein was not an ardent supporter of Zionism, the Jewish Homeland project by the European Jews. He felt that the waves of arriving Jews could live alongside existing Arabs in Palestine. In 1938, he predicted that the Zionist project would be threatened by “fanatical Arab
The Hamas cross-border terrorist attack on Israel in the early hours of Saturday, the 7th October was unprecedented. Over 5,000 rockets were fired at Israeli cities, and villages. Under the cover of rocket fire, over 2,500 armed men poured into Southern Israel using either para-gliders or SUVs, trucks and motor-cycles.
Speaking in the Parliament on 10th August 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the governance and policies of the Congress in the North-East. He recalled an episode from 1966 when the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out an attack in Aizawl on the orders of Indira
I will begin this chapter on our banking system, with former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. He demitted office on 4th September 2016, upon serving his tenure of three years. After Modi-led NDA government came into office on 26th May 2014, RSS hotheads and “loose cannon” BJP members began their tirade
During the virtual Rozgar Mela event on 24th July, PM Modi said that the previous UPA government “destroyed” the banking sector with scams. His government has restored its good financial health, with India now known for the sector’s strength. According to him, "phone banking"
Only nine months to go for the 2024 general election. PM Modi and BJP have dusted off their divisive plan to enact a common set of personal laws for us irrespective of religion. Labelled as Uniform Civil Code (UCC), BJP had promised it in its 2019 LS Election manifesto. Speaking in Bhopal to his party cadre, Modi
In Namo’ste America, I wrote: “Ever since Modi came to power in 2014, India has attracted global attention on a range of concerns that indicate that some of its goings on are inherently undemocratic. Modi has regularly fuelled majoritarian sentiments in the country and has maintained silence
Our PM Modi was accorded the honour of addressing the joint session of US Congress for the second time. Before him, Manmohan Singh, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru had addressed the US Congress once during their terms. Modi’s..
A new biography of our 10th Prime Minister (PM), Atal Behari Lal Vajpayee titled ’Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right 1924-1977’, has just been released. Abhishek Choudhary, its author, presents the unseen side of Vajpayee and punctures several myths about him. There have been several biographies
BJP may find solace that their vote share is marginally lower (-0.35%). Its core constituents have remained loyal. That is not really solace because not only BJP has lost power but the chance for its “Plan B” (of Operation Kamala) has very little chance of success. JDS has lost 4.91% vote share and INC has gained 4.74%. The gap between INC and BJP has widened to 6.88%. It may seem that vote transfer from JDS to INC has happened. But, that may not be entirely true. Parties and political pundits will analyze region-wise..[By Philip Mudartha]
The tenure of Karnataka Legislative Assembly ends on 24th May 2023. The previous elections were held in May 2018 which threw up a hung assembly. BJP secured 104 seats, Congress 80 and JDS 37. The state-wide vote share was 36.35% for BJP, 38.14% for Congress and 18.2%
The secular and left-liberal media described “The Kerala Story” as a propaganda film that uses art as a tool to propagate hate and crate division among communities. For the liberals like the communist rulers of Kerala, the movie presents distorted narrative of conversions of
According to the UN data, India surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation on Wednesday, the 26th April 2023. By the end of this month, India’s population is projected to cross 142 crore. China’s population had peaked at 142 crore in 2022 and has been
Supreme Court has done what successive governments shied away from. Selection of CEC and ECs by government was problematic. With weighty decisions on conducting elections and adjudicating disputes between parties to be made by this high constitutional
he Indian Chemical Industry is an integral part of the Economy. In all different ways it’s a part of our lives. We are inextricably linked to the industry- be it be the furniture we use, cars we drive, garments we put on or the drugs we consume. Indian Chemical Industry is both capital as
Union Budget announced on 1 Feb 2023 was devoid of any big negatives, barring the cigarettes industry. It was continuation of the past. Government stuck to its script of being fiscally prudent. No major populist steps were announced. Budget tried to achieve a fine balance between growth of manufacturing