Category: About

The Coming “Citizen War”

The Citizen at War 

Political freedom must be used to fight for economic freedom

July 2011.

Witnessing the recent skirmishes between some segments of the “civil society” and the central government of India, it is hard to keep cynicism at bay. On the one side there are sincere people with not inconsiderable following who are trying to bring about change in governance and the reduction of public corruption which has reached astronomical proportions. While they may be motivated by worthy goals, not all their means are above reproach. Their passion is not matched by their understanding of what should be done and how.

On the other side are powerful people in the government who are not particularly perturbed about the reports that allege, often with substantial evidence, their involvement in scams that run into billions of dollars. These people have the power of the state on their side and are not hesitant in using overwhelming force to defeat the people on the other side. Not just the police force, but they have used government agencies—such as investigative and taxation institutions—to fight their opponents. Continue reading “The Coming “Citizen War””

The Illusion of Freedom

The April 2011 edition of “Pragati — The Indian National Interest Review” is here. I have a piece in there — The Illusion of Freedom. Here it is below the fold, for the record.
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Traveling Places: Goa, Pune, Nashik & Hyderabad

This is a personal post about where in the world I am. I am in Pune for a couple of days, and then in Nashik for the weekend. Of late, I have been traveling a lot. Last Saturday I was in Goa for six hours — landed at 1 PM and left at 7 PM. I had gone there to have a chat with Manohar Parrikar, the ex-CM of Goa. Next Saturday I will be heading off to Hyderabad for the Takshashila Foundation Roundtable. I should mention that I am a fellow at the Takshashila Institution, “an independent networked think tank on India’s strategic affairs.” See you there!

Traveling Places: Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi

This is a travel alert. I am going to be in Bangalore 29th Jan through 31 Jan. On 29th Saturday, I am speaking on “Why is India poor?” between 4 and 6 PM. Venue: To be announced. After Bangalore, it will be Hyderabad. I am speaking at the Indian School of Business on the 1st of Feb. The Center for Emerging Market Studies at ISB is holding a round table discussion on “Where do new cities fit on India’s urban roadmap?” My job there is to take a wide-angle view of the big picture. Back to Mumbai 2 Feb and then leave for New Delhi on Sunday 6th Feb for a week. I am considering writing a very interesting post on the blog. Perhaps I will later today. Cheers.

Open Thread: Leaving on a Jet Plane

I’m leaving on a jet plane. For friends and family who want to check where my flights are, go to Track Flights, and enter EK as the airline code (Emirates) and flight number 226 to Dubai. This will work only after the flight departs at 15:45 Sunday PST. Later I will take flight EK 500 from Dubai to Mumbai which departs on Monday 10:30 PM Dubai time. That flight arrives in India at 2:30 AM on Tuesday.

Modern technology is amazing.

A few points on posting comments

Thanks to all who bother to post comments and advance the discussion. To make it easier on all of us, may I suggest that proof-reading before hitting the post button is important. Otherwise you have to waste time writing a correction. And one more thing. Please, please use html blockquote code to indicate, where appropriate, what specifically you are commenting about. See below for how to do that.
Continue reading “A few points on posting comments”

Creating New Vote Banks

It’s been a while since I contributed to “The Indian National Interest Review: Pragati.” I had to write a piece. I didn’t want the editor, Mr Nitin Pai, to get mad at me. It’s always best to be on his right side. Never get the press angry, is what I always say. Now if you know me, you know that it takes me forever to write anything. At the very mention of writing, I feel a writer’s block coming on. Writing is the hardest thing I try. But anyway, I dusted off the old keyboard, put on my thinking cap and pondered market failures, government failures, and what can be done about them. Here it is for the record.

(Click on image for a PDF copy of the issue.)
Continue reading “Creating New Vote Banks”

The Pale Blue Dot

Carl Sagan was a man of extraordinary vision — and what is more, a man who helped others to see more clearly. Here’s Sagan’s meditation on that little speck seen in this image taken from a distance of 6.4 billion kms from earth, the place we call home. The image was taken by Voyager 1 (launched 1977) in 1990 on its way out of the solar system. It shows earth as if it were a “mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” Sagan had persuaded NASA to command the spacecraft to capture this image. He explained the significance of that picture in his 1994 book, The Pale Blue Dot. See below for a reading of that bit by Sagan.
Continue reading “The Pale Blue Dot”