(The article was originally published by India Today on May 18, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) Until a decade or two ago, Sweden, the Nordic country in Northern Europe, was considered one of the safest European destinations. But last year, a German newspaper, Bild, headlined that “Sweden is the most dangerous country in Europe”. Today, […]
Ram Madhav
Doom – The Politics of Catastrophe
(The review was originally published by Chintan – India Foundation Blogs on May 7, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) The Covid pandemic has highlighted one important probability – mankind’s ability to self-destruct. The virus, that had caused SARS two decades ago or Covid two years ago, was suspected to be a byproduct of human experimentation […]
A Nation-First Narrative
(The article was originally published by India Today on April 23, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) Access PDF here In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping, the then supreme leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), decided to focus exclusively on economic development. He realised that for the China dream to come true, the economy, shattered by […]
Democracy in South Asia
(The article was originally published by Chintan – India Foundation Blogs on April 9, 2022.Views expressed are personal.) Interestingly, two leaders have a serious problem with the RSS at the same time. One is Imran Khan, the outgoing Prime Minister of Pakistan. Isolated in the Pakistan National Assembly and faced with a definite ouster through […]
Beijing wants ‘business as usual’. But Delhi is having none of it
(The article was originally published in Indian Express on March 28, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) Adam Smith’s book, The Wealth of Nations, is well-known. His other book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, though equally influential, is lesser-known. Smith raises a hypothetical scenario of ethical conflict in it, asking what would a European do if […]
The creation of a winning electoral formula
(The article was originally published by Indian Express on March 16, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) In elections these days, the BJP comes in with some constants. First, is the Modi factor. With unmatched levels of popularity defying conventional political incumbency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as a juggernaut, carrying the party on his […]
Say bye to dynasty, caste & religion. Welcome good governance | OPINION
(The article was originally published by India Today on March 10, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) One important message from this round of Assembly elections is that “for the people” governments and leaders will be given the mandate “by the people”. Old politics of dynasty, caste, religion and opportunist alliances do no longer cut any […]
The Age of AI And Our Human Future
(The review was originally published by Chintan-India Foundation Blogs on March 10, 2022. Views expressed are personal.) In their book “The art of bitfulness – Keeping calm in the digital world”, Nandan Nilekani and Tanuj Bhojwani express concern over how the tools that “we shaped” – the digital technology – are “shaping us” today. In […]
The complex roots of the Russia- Ukraine conflict
(The article was originally published in Hindustan Times on March 2, 2022 . Views expressed are personal.) Click here to read the article with HT It is a war between two Vladimirs. One, the indomitable president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, a strong and boisterous leader with decades of experience at strategy and statecraft, and another […]
Indian Muslims Need to Emulate the Indonesian Model
WOKES ARE THE greatest enemy of classical liberalism. Their championing of the hijab cause is a great disservice to women of Islam who fought countless battles for centuries to unshackle themselves from the harsh Islamic patriarchal yoke. By deploying deceptive vocabulary like choice and freedom, and demonstrating false camaraderie with a few misled Muslim girls, […]