Stories from the grassroots | Thoughts on development | Lessons on leadership
The last couple of weeks has seen discussions around the vaccine for COVID and whether they are safe and effective. While each person is entitled to his/her own view, it can indeed be confusing listening to the several experts and political commentators about this issue. … Continue reading
Early last week, I was invited to a one-to-one meeting with Ms Nirmala Sitharaman ji, the Union Finance minister to share inputs on the forthcoming budget. She was keen on understanding the fiscal policy aspirations of the NGO sector and other insights into how best to grow the rural economy.… Continue reading
The inequities that India’s caste system has created has been attempted to be stalled or reversed through the constitutional mandate of Affirmative action. Increasingly, one has forgotten the basic tenet of ensuring justice and fairness to all citizens and the sociopolitical eco-system has only been exploiting the sentiments of religion and caste.… Continue reading
A few months ago, Ms Sneha (name changed) had been to the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) branch office near her home to pay the house tax. She was aware that she was eligible for a 5% discount if she paid the taxes due for the current year before the 31st of May. … Continue reading
The recent Diwali festival saw the government of Karnataka vacillate between wanting to ban firecrackers and not wanting to ban it. Chief Minister Yeddyurappa initially announced that his government was considering a ban but went back on this a few days later.… Continue reading
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
Writing a book is a labour of love. It took me more than a year of writing, months of editing & revising and the manuscript is now finally a book. Even though this is my 7th book, the excitement is still palpable.… Continue reading