The Indian budget every year has always been an eagerly awaited event. For many decades, the best minds in economics, finance, tax, business and industry throng the media house to analyze the provisions shared by the Financial Minister.
Sometimes major events completely disconnected may be data points for the plans of the different powers around the world. The challenge is to discern what purpose they serve? More critically, what are we moving towards?
When the US Ambassador threatened India's "Strategic Autonomy" policy over India's friendship with Russia - much more than meets the eye was at stake. Let us unpack how the Ukraine war has fundamentally changed the US and the world. And why are we here anyway?
This conference appearance and interaction of and with Narendra Modi is special. In this, the attempt of the organizers was to discuss substantive stuff and not keep harping on the same “Gujarat 2002”. Honestly, that has become the lamest kind of discussion around Modi.
Had Modi been in business, by now, he would have been in the league of Jack Welch and the Tatas of India as far as the ways of doing business is concerned and his popularity. People talk about Nitish Kumar etc. Honestly, apart from Chandrababu Naidu, I don’t know of any other political leader who has done good work and had the sagacity and finesse to market that. You can’t just do good work, you have to know how to market your business well also. When Chandrababu was at the helm, one would see him making power-point presentations to the world business conference selling Andhra Pradesh. Such was the impact that everyone from Bill Gates to Jack Welch made a bee line to his state. I wonder how much FDI AP is getting, but if it is more than at Naidu’s time, then the numbers are surely fudged!
Modi also knows how to prepare and market his state like no one else.
But this speech is not about his selling his state. This is about his vision. From the most detailed – a Boiler Inspector’s work dynamics – to the most high level – Center State relations – he talks about everything, with authority and IN CONTEXT. He is smart, gets things right and is willing to work with the current system but make sure the same system delivers more. The most defining moment for me was when Raghav Bahl asked him about the Planning Commission. His answer concluded by saying that the idea is not to change the systems. First we should know how to USE what we have got! And that is a very important insight. Most of us want to change the system without first using it to its maximum potential.
All those who belittle his achievements and his contributions are dwarfs who cannot accept that they have someone truly worth-while to lead the country in front of them. It will India’s greatest tragedy if Modi does not get to lead the country in 2014.
The Indian budget every year has always been an eagerly awaited event. For many decades, the best minds in economics, finance, tax, business and industry throng the media house to analyze the provisions shared by the Financial Minister.
When the US Ambassador threatened India's "Strategic Autonomy" policy over India's friendship with Russia - much more than meets the eye was at stake. Let us unpack how the Ukraine war has fundamentally changed the US and the world. And why are we here anyway?
This visit of India left me with many questions. Many observations and inputs from different people and sections. Food for thought that I have tried to contemplate on and make sense of. Sharing all that with you.
When you analyze the last 60 years of the economic miracles of Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia versus the continued impoverished Indian economy, you get very interesting lessons. Can Indians have the wherewithal in them to do in one generation so that the coming generations may rise?
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