My Blog

Telephone… radio… television… the Internet... the Printing press… Papyrus... Throughout history, whenever a new medium of communication emerges, many people, including many government officials, get highly anxious about the new power and the purported new dangers and evils it brings along. With the increasing impact of social media, there are eruptions of fear and outburst of terror about the new power to disseminate information and the potential harm that information and disinformation may cause. Today's social media platforms present the same difficulties that we've been dealing with with regard to older media. The social impact of big tech is at an all time high and so is the censorship of content on these platforms. As the power of the common person waned, the power of the Big Tech grew - power over attention, over time, over users’ judgment and eventually power over their speech. Censorship is a problem that has managed to visit every corner of history, from ancient civili...

Sri Lankans have been peacefully rallying against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the past month and a half, as the country faces its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948 -  Rolling blackouts, a scarcity of gas, dwindling food reserves, a dearth of medication, pen, paper, etc.  Huge foreign debt stacks, a series of lockdowns, surging inflation, fuel shortages, a drop in foreign currency reserves, and currency devaluation have all hampered the country's economic progress. Amidst all this, former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has recommended a reform in the country's government system. The main issue, according to her, is that Sri Lankans have lost trust in politicians. She suggests the creation of an interim government and two critical councils as part of a comprehensive strategy to ensure a democratic governance - integrity and fairness. The intended procedure is as follows: - - The incumbent President will designate a Prime Minister who ...

With the rise of omicron cases in China, the country is increasingly at risk of being overrun by the omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as brutal as the one Hong Kong did. The country's Covid zero strategy to addressing the virus has sparked outrage and resulted in considerable limitations and an information blackout across provinces. There are a large number of elderly citizens in the nation, about 264 million, many of whom, about 52 million have not been vaccinated which is the biggest source of worry. Another source of concern for China is the poor efficiency of the vaccine, Sinovac, which was mandated by the WHO at 51% efficacy. 'Covid Zero' could crush China! In this scenario, India has played it smart by avoiding the Covid zero strategy. Its strategy is scientifically sound and is focused on living with the pandemic - prioritizing vaccination for the elderly. Given the increase in Covid infections in China, India must maintain mask laws, offer booster doses to t...

I am, like any other Indian, a die-hard cricket fan who makes it a point to watch every match from the beginning till the end and make a close note of the run rates, scores, etc. Of all the matches I have watched till date, the one thing I have found the very queer is the status of Women's cricket. All of them have the grit, the ambition and the skill and perform meticulously in the cricket matches and reach to the finals, however, never win that. They were in the finals of the Women's One Day international world cup in 2005 and even in 2017, however did not win either. Why? Because women's cricket is neglected in India. It is as simple and straightforward as that. The women's team did not play a single match the entire year after the 2020 world cup final. Here, the pandemic can only be partly blamed because male cricketers played innumerable matches throughout the year, including the Indian Premier league. There is no IPL-style, T20 league for women in India. Private, ...

Russia's war on Ukraine is on its eighteenth day and a lot has taken place since it started. The future course of events is unclear at this time, but the consequences and risks to the world, particularly India, are apparent. The invasion of Ukraine has put India in an unenviable position having to choose between what is right and what it believes is right for itself. The most pressing question at the moment is what this war means for India. The answers to these questions are a bit hazy, but the need of the hour is to explore the situation we may face and why the European crisis is a plight for us. 1) India has a close, privileged partnership with Russia which is a major supplier of defence hardware and a supporter on international platforms. India continues to rely on Russia for major defence supplies. The S-400 contract with Russia is still in the talks, and is expected to bolster India's security on its northern frontiers. At the same time, over the past two decades, India...

Discussing the Union budget is one of the most important agendas in India and there are passionate debates among politicians to ensure that proper allocation is made. After all, it contributes to the stabilization of the economy. Every year, the world’s three major democracies, India, US and UK, follow a ritual and present 1–2-hour budget speeches. They talk about the economic situation and the government’s priorities and intentions for the coming year.  In each of the budget addresses over the previous decade, the US President has mentioned the phrase ‘jobs’ 20 times, and the British chancellor stated it 15 times. But in India’s budget speeches, subjects linked to jobs were largely overlooked. This shows the priorities of every country and how India is clearly misguided. India’s unemployment problem Every year, the presentation of the Union budget is accompanied by spectacular speeches. All the latest government plans, tax reforms, and so on are covered and brought to our att...

 All people should not become Vegetarian You all would be thinking, this is such a minor, unimportant topic. Even if everyone became Vegetarian, how will this change, even make a difference or even matter. This might look like a small topic that does not seek for any debating, but if we go deeper to the root cause and look deep into this matter then it can have a huge impact on our country.   India is a diverse country with various eating habits and beliefs. Some people residing in India are Non-vegetarians, some are Vegetarians and some are Eggetarians. Some people belonging to specific religion may not find eating chicken as a great idea. Some might prefer eating non vegetarian food and some might only prefer dairy products. So, we cannot limit their eating habits, what they should eat and what they shouldn’t. They are the ones on whom this should be left to.   We should have a variety in everything. This is what India is, after all: Diversified.  Also, ...

A foreign policy should cater to the national interest and at the same time establish a rightful place among other nations of the world. More importantly it should lead to friendly relationships with neighbouring nations. With the recent developments with our neighbouring nations like Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and SriLanka, I strongly feel that India needs to redesign her foreign policy. There were many instances where, as a good neighbouring country we were not able to help these nations, and our adversary China took advantage of this, pushing their claims and disrupting our relations with these countries. In this context, India's traditional foreign policy doctrines based on ideals of  Non-Aligned Movement  and Panchsheel would not help attain our strategic goals. India needs to change their approach within the neighbourhood to be more flexible, and willing to give more with a long-term strategic vision to gain greater advantage. At the same time India should have stron...

     You all must have heard this line that in order to fight COVID virus we need to have a strong immunity. But who  needs to care for our health? And who needs to work towards maintaining it? It is us. We all need to protect our body from being attacked by any diseases.  In the similar way the defence forces protect our country from external attacks and at the same time we need good, responsible, disciplined, and selfless citizens to help make the nation progressive and strong internally. If you check, all these are the traits of a great defence personnel.  For this reason we should enroll ourselves in the defence services, as it teaches us to fight for and protect our rights, and stand strong against all odds. It helps in inculcating moral values and discipline in day to day life which would make us more efficient at what we do and hence will contribute to the growth of our country . Different regiments in the forces communicate the practice of “Unit...