New Government. New Budget. New Ethos.

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Must the new Budget of the new government of Dr. Manmohan Singh have a new ethos of its own altogether? I do believe it must. As the clamour from every segment of interest-group dies down, and just as every top CEO of a real-estate, construction, durables, FMCG, and every one of the 29 verticals of industry quietens down, the new government has a task ahead of itself. A task it must address with a world-view that is far ahead of the individual agendas put forth by every lobby group there is within the country. Let me paint an ethos canvas then. A dhobi-list of expectations of my own. July 6, 2009 will tell us in many ways whether we are there or not. A dhobi-list of hunger. This is a hungry nation. The nation hungers for: 1. Jobs: Too many have been lost....

From Bangalore with love:Thank you, President Obama!

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Pakistan and the regime of Asif Ali Zardari got a right hook from President Obama of the United States last week. And this week, it is the turn of Bangalore. Bangalore gets a left-hook. With one strong statement of his, delivered in his now famous Presidential-style, Obama has catapulted Brand Bangalore to a new status of recognition altogether. Obama's speech-writers did Brand Bangalore great justice when they chose to use the alliterative format of Bangalore and Buffalo (a now-dying town in terms of jobs and prosperity quotients of every kind in upstate New York). Brand Bangalore, which until just about yesterday was known to a billion-plus people is today known to a multiple of that. Google searches of the word Bangalore must have touched a new figure already. We will have the verdict on this soon. Bangalore on the other hand has morphed year after year. From being....

The 'Nataka' of Karnataka Politics

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'Nataka' in Kannada means a simple English word. Drama! Kar'nataka' in the last 4 years has seen plenty of it in its politics. High drama. Theatre of the absurd even! The last 4 years since 2004 has seen three successive governments. A motley mix of political folk cobbling together alliances called coalitions. The first one started off with a Congress led Congress-JD(S) government headed by Mr. Dharam Singh, a senior Congress leader of Karnataka, who was found acceptable by the King-maker patriarch of the JD(S), Mr. H D Deve Gowda. This coalition was a necessity as the electorate had given a fractured mandate. The BJP, Congress and JD(S) lined up in that order in terms of seats in the 224 member Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The government hobbled along. Decision making was relegated to a corner. The coalition just did not work. This was a....