Stories from the grassroots | Thoughts on development | Lessons on leadership
My first brush with being made to feel like a South Indian and distinctly different from the person in front of me is something that is strongly etched into my memory now. My father had insisted that all his children learn three languages at school – Kannada, the language of my state of Karnataka, English and Hindi (which he felt was our National language). … Continue reading
We live in a world of having a expert for all major human endeavours – from the mason to the medical specialist, from the masseuse to the manager…to the point where we have a special word called a Generalist even.… Continue reading
The problem of pollution is back in Delhi again. The state governments of Arvind Kejriwal and Capt. Amarinder Singh have started blaming each other for the problem, while the Supreme Court has been demanding action from both the Central and State Governments. … Continue reading
Earlier this year, two communities – Parivara and Talawara were added to the list of Scheduled Tribes. These communities numbering close to 11 lakh has further resulted in marginalizing the shrinking numbers of forest dwelling indigenous communites.… Continue reading
The current NGO situation seems to be finding a lot of newspaper space the last few days. While there are several challenges that NGOs around the world are facing, the current COVID crisis only seems to have worsened this. What NGOs need now is to rediscover their relevance to society as much as Societies and Governments need to recognize the work & contribution of good and credible NGOs.… Continue reading
It is now more than a year since the Social Stock Exchange was announced by the Union Finance Minister and SEBI was mandated with the responsibility of setting it up. While the Exchange is a good idea of mobilising resources that the Social sector desperately needs, what is to be seen are the operational details of making it work.… Continue reading
Hearing the passing away of S P Balasubramaniam yesterday left me with a feeling of emptiness. For me, he was not just a musical legend who sang a world record of more than 40000 songs in 15 languages. … Continue reading
The Indian parliament recently passed three acts codifying the plethora of laws that related to Labour laws. While labour is on the concurrent list and the National Govt and the States can make their own laws, this was a long overdue reform that we needed.… Continue reading
Watching television is now an ordeal. One hears a lot more noise than anything else. Whether it is news or current event shows, the media seems to be obsess over the death of an actor of the demolition of the office of the other and the consequent political drama that plays out.… Continue reading
Countries around the world are struggling with the economy slowing down drastically due to the COVID crisis. While lockdowns are being gradually lifted, one is still unsure when there will be light at the end of the economic tunnel. While there is no single solution framework that exists, countries including India will have to chart their own contextual response.… Continue reading
Ms Nirmala Sitharaman announced the setting up a Social Stock Exchange (SSE) in her budget speech of July 2019 and SEBI was the nodal agency to help set it up. SEBI set up a working group with the mandate of framing the norms for it.… Continue reading
While so much has been written about the COVID crisis and how life will never be the same again, there is little or no attention on a sector that is considered as one of India’s largest employers. It has been estimated that there are more than 3 million NGOs of all sizes and shapes that exist and that close to 30% of them will be shut down or rendered irrelevant by the end of this financial year 20-21.… Continue reading
The current Coronavirus pandemic has tested the health systems and economies of most countries and, beyond the general concerns on the development of a vaccine, all are grappling with two major issues: containing the crisis and initiating economic recovery.
There is talk globally about the falling GDP and the impending collapse of the economies of several nations.… Continue reading
