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Article Of The Week

Dying younger: A distressing sign of the times

When someone as healthy and fit as Sushant Singh Rajput passed away at the age of 34, I was bewildered that he could have died suddenly at such a young age despite the reasons. On 2nd September 2021, television icon Sidharth Shukla suddenly passed away due to a heart attack leaving millions of people wondering how gym going, extremely healthy people were dropping dead. Kannada icon Puneeth Rajkumar collapsed in his gym and could not be revived when taken to the hospital on 29th October 2021. The Information Technology and Industries Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mekapati Goutham Reddy passed due to a heart attack in Hyderabad at the age of 50 on 21st February 2022. In my own family, a faraway cousin passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 32, another relative died due to kidney failure at 43 and a former colleague passed away at the age of 46 due to heart failure. Each case stirs a multitude of emotions.

The most recent case hogging the headlines was the sudden death of two Australians in quick succession. Cricketer Shane Keith Warne who was on a strict diet died on the picturesque island of Ko Samui on the east coast of Thailand on 4th March 2022 (the same day as Australian professional cricketer Rodney William Marsh) aged 52. Australian politician Kimberley Jane Elizabeth Kitching passed away on 10th March 2022, in a case of a suspected heart attack in the Melbourne suburb of Strathmore at the age of 52. American professional bodybuilder Cedric McMillan died of a heart attack while working out on a treadmill at the age of 44. A sudden cardiac arrest snatched British music entrepreneur and DJ, Jamal Edwards at the young age of 31.

Close on the heels, Australian Football League (AFL) player Dean Wallis had a heart attack and was rushed for lifesaving surgery. In India, choreographer and director Remo D’Souza had a heart attack and was wheeled in an emergency to get his surgery at the age of 48. In February 2022, comic actor and performer, Sunil Grover suffered a heart attack and had to undergo four bypass surgeries at the age of 44. Though these celebrities survived the day, heart attacks don’t seem to be waiting for any age or any time, striking at will.

Notwithstanding the millions of people, we have lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, general cases of younger people dying are a cause of extreme worry. While the medical fraternity and media blame the rising stress levels, the new lifestyle changes, fast food, and unhealthy food habits, there is no explanation for why healthy people who follow a strict diet regimen were dying for health reasons. The long-term impact of Covid-19 also remains a stress point on the human body. Researchers are yet to gauge the damage the pandemic is causing to the organs, especially the lungs.

India has come a long way since the 1950s when the average life expectancy stood at 35 years. By the year 1995, India improved its tally to 60 years, and today due to improved medical advancement and abundance, the average life expectancy stands at 70 years. However, the trend of younger people dying is a serious cause of concern and the reasons must be probed to align for better health and lifestyle. Will regular health check-ups in periodic intervals of 6 months help detect heart, lung, and kidney issues as an early warning? The answer lies with the government and the Indian industry if twice a year health check-up must be made mandatory for all Indians to learn about their issues beforehand and take corrective medical action. This may increase stress levels for the people who are diagnosed with minor and serious issues they were blissfully unaware till now, making India a country of distressed people. The answer lies perhaps in debate, discussion, and self-awareness.

Till then, the actual cause(s) of healthy younger people dying remains elusive.

Gallery Of Articles

ROYAL SAAS BAHU JETHANI SOAP OPRAH

ROYAL DADI BAHU JETHANI SOAP OPRAH

By Dhiraj Kumar

Two weeks ago, it was a feeling of Déjà vu for the people of the United Kingdom and the rest of the world when the explosive interview of Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Duke of Sussex Prince Harry aired on CBS for the American television audience. 26 years ago, Harry’s mother Lady Diana Spencer had shaken up everyone with a similar interview. In 1995, Diana gave a stormy interview to journalist Martin Bashir for the BBC's Panorama program in which she shocked the United Kingdom with secret revelations about her life with the Windsors. She had accused the palace as an “establishment” in which her mental condition had deteriorated after her marriage to Prince Charles.
Fast-forward to the entry of American divorcee and TV actress Meghan Markle into Prince Harry’s life on a blind date in 2016. After months of dating, the palace announced Meghan and Harry’s engagement in November 2017. They got married on 19th May 2018 at the St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle after they were christened as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex by Queen Elizabeth. In less than five months after the wedding, the couple announced the expected arrival of their first-born Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor. What seemed to be a fairy tale royal life had cracks right from the start.
Early signs of discord with the family began in October 2019, when Meghan Markle gave an emotional interview to ITV’s Tom Bradby in Africa in which she explained her struggles of coping with the ever-mounting public interest in her life and the early stages of pregnancy and motherhood. The negative press coverage from some parts of British media was a cause of stress for her. Harry too expressed the difficulty he was having to adjust with their new royal titles. He was not happy to be followed by the tabloids like his mother was. Earlier that month, Meghan had sued a British newspaper The Mail for leaking a private letter she had written to her father. Harry issued a statement "I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long. To stand back and do nothing would be contrary to everything we believe in." Meghan added that a British friend had warned her that British tabloids will destroy her life when she had just met Harry. Meghan’s admitted to Bradby that she was very “naïve” about the British tabloids and “did not get it”. Speaking during the same tour of Africa, Harry expressed his deep anguish that “every click of the camera got back memories of his mother Diana in the worst reminder rather than the best” alluding to the infamous tabloid culture which had a significant hand in his mother’s death.
Early in January 2020, the rumblings in the palace came louder when in a sudden move Harry and Meghan announced their decision to “step back” from royal duties with a post on Instagram "After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honor our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity." Harry later revealed that they were left with “no other option” as they were not keen to be full-time royals.
Meghan & Harry were unstoppable from here on when they signed deals with Netflix and Spotify to explore their creative side as content producers and podcasters. On Valentine’s Day in 2021, the couple announced the expected arrival of their second child. Four days after this announcement, Buckingham Palace announced that Harry and Meghan would not return as working royals. "While all are saddened by their decision, The Duke and Duchess remain much-loved members of the family." The queen also announced that she would take away the “royal patronages she previously granted to the couple and strip Harry of his honorary military titles" hinting at a family divorce with the couple. Harry and Meghan informed through media that they would be shuttling between the United States and the United Kingdom.
In March 2021, the Harry-Meghan interview exploded across the world creating an overnight sensation. As per rumors Harry and Meghan were paid $7 million by CBS to share their side of the story. The Buckingham Palace had always been tight-lipped about controversies surrounding its family members for decades.
Meghan spoke to America’s celebrated television anchor Oprah Winfrey one-on-one, opening her heart out on the issues plaguing her and Harry. Speaking extensively of her life as a royal since their wedding, Meghan threw a bombshell when she said that she "didn't want to be alive anymore", due to her isolation and loneliness. Meghan portrayed herself as a causality of the media image obsession of the palace.
Meghan accused the royal establishment of racism and pointed it to be one of the reasons for their move to the US. She said the palace was abuzz and “concerned” with which color of skin tone will her son Archie be born with, alluding to racism inside the corridors of Buckingham Palace. “Rude and racism are not the same”, she said. Rewinding to November 2016, the Kensington Palace had issued a statement of support for Meghan (who was Harry’s girlfriend at the time), to stop sexist and racist harassment of her and her family. Later Prince William, brother to Prince Harry had also stated of his own supporting Harry and Markle, but all that was in the past now.
William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan were once hailed as the “Fab Four”, but the interview gave a glimpse of a relationship in tatters. Meghan disclosed that Kate had made her cry before the wedding. “What was shocking was, what was that six, seven months after our wedding, the reverse of that would be out in the world [the story in the British media suggesting Meghan made Kate cry]. Tough she called Kate a “good person”, the media had always pitted them against each other.
There was a stunned silence from the Buckingham Palace after the telecast of the interview. The palace issued a simple statement that put an end to all speculation. “The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan, and Archie will always be much-loved family members" clearly stating that they do not agree to everything that has been alleged by Meghan and Harry in their interview. The Queen is known to be very careful with her words.
The interview opened Pandora’s box of opinions and arguments. While on one side, she was getting the sympathy vote for having faced so much, the critics argued that Meghan knew exactly what she was getting into when she had decided to marry Prince Harry. If she wanted to get an idea about the mysterious ways of palace workings, she could have just watched The Crown on Netflix! Meghan’s admission that she had not googled Harry before their blind date is beyond belief for the public. Harry has been a darling to the English people, but he too has been subjected to criticism, of not being able to iron out the differences despite knowing his family too well. Author and royal biographer Anna Pasternak was scathing in her attack on the couple to the BBC saying “It was a very soft-serving, soapy interview in Meghan’s favor. None of Meghan’s real behavior was questioned. It was an absolute exercise in torching the house of Windsor.” Meghan is seen as an outsider who came into the British royal family but left taking away too much. She has not stopped harming the royal family, even when she broke away to freedom in another country. The already precarious Britain’s royal family is on the edge of the cliff again.
Hilarious memes flooded social media like a storm when netizens took full advantage of their wit and humor to add a dash of comedy to the tragedy. The popularity of Meghan and Harry has crashed since the interview in the United Kingdom.
Prince Harry remains a prince and is sixth in line to the British throne. Perhaps that is the only connection he will have to his past royal life. As for Meghan, the captive bird is out of the cage and how!

Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer, and he is writing his first book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

Lone Woman Standing in India's Supreme Court

Lone Woman Standing in India’s Supreme Court

By Dhiraj Kumar

On 13th March 2021, Hon’ble Justice Indu Malhotra retired from the Indian Supreme Court leaving the only other woman judge on the bench, Hon’ble Justice Indira Banerjee to hold the unique distinction of being the only female judge in the highest court of the country of 1.4 billion people. As per the Population census of 2011, 48% of the Indian population are women. Justice Indira Banerjee is figuratively the sole representative of approximately 70 million Indian women citizens in the Supreme Court of India.

In a country where crime against women has always been high, be it female infanticide, harassment at the workplace, rape, or dowry, the Supreme Court has been a beacon of hope to provide justice to thousands of women. No one can deny that the Supreme Court is one of the most respected institutions in India since Independence. India has come a long way since the day the first woman Justice Fatima Beevi, a high court justice was appointed to the Supreme Court as a judge in 1989. Fatima Beevi had enrolled as an advocate on 14 November 1950. Working her way up from the lower judiciary in Kerala, it took her forty-two years after Indian Independence to break the glass ceiling of the Supreme Court.

Since 1947, only 8 women judges have graced the benches of the highest country of the land namely, Hon’ble Justices- Fatima Beevi, Sujata Manohar, Ruma Pal, Gyan Sudha Misra, Ranjana Desai, Ruth Bhanumathi, Indu Malhotra & Indira Banerjee. Joining the legal profession in 1983, Justice Indu Malhotra was a legal counsel in the Supreme Court for 30 years before she was appointed as judge of the highest court in 2018. Before Justice Indu Malhotra, Justice Ruth Banumathi who had been appointed by the collegium in 2014, had retired in 2020. She was the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court when she was called upon to serve in the Supreme Court. The sole judge Justice Indira Banerjee started her career in 1985 at the prestigious Calcutta High Court and was appointed the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court in 2017. She assumed office in August 2018 as a judge in the Supreme Court.

Out of the total approved strength of 34 seats at the bench, there are currently a total of 29 judges in the Supreme Court. The present composition makes way for only one female judge Indira Banerjee in a gender imbalanced apex court. The Supreme Court collegium which was introduced as a system under which judicial appointments and transfers are decided by a forum of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court also has no accommodation for women judges. The current collegium consists of all men namely Hon’ble Justices Sharad Bobde, N.V.Ramana, Rohinton Fari Nariman, Uday Umesh Lalit, and Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar, who decide with the necessary appointments and transfers within the judiciary.

In comparison to the Indian Supreme Court to the other apex courts in democracies in the world, the Supreme Court in the United States of America has a total strength of 9 judges out of which 3 are women judges presently. In percentage terms, the women judges to the total number of judges are at 33% representation in the US compared to 3.4% to India’s 1 on 29 judges. The Supreme Federal Court of the Federative Republic of Brazil is composed of 11 judges with 2 women justices and the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Philippines has 15 judges of which 3 are women, all of them higher in the ratio in seating women at the highest table of the judiciary than India.

The situation in the lower courts of the judiciary is no different. As in December 2020, across the 26 high courts in India, there were only 82 woman judges out of the total number of 1,079 judges. Of the 27 High Court Chief Justices serving today, Justice Hima Kohli is the sole lady Chief Justice of any high court in India, presiding as the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court. The high courts of Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Uttarakhand have no sitting woman judge as of today. Out of the 17 sitting judges in the Hon’ble Jharkhand High Court, there is only one-woman judge Hon’ble Justice Anubha Rawat Chowdhary.

On the brighter side, the second oldest court in the country, the Madras High Court leads the way in the number of woman judges in its current composition in India. It has 13 women judges out of the total strength of 62 judges including the Chief Justice while the Punjab High Court can boast of 7 women judges out of 47 total judges.

The Supreme Court and the collegium must reflect upon the gender gap across the High Courts and the Supreme Court of the country to make the judiciary an institution with more representation from women. There could be a definitive number of vacancies that could be filled up by appointments to deserving and meritorious women judges to maintain the balance of the gender gap. With the burgeoning population in the age of social media, women's rights and issues will get more vocal and that voice will demand justice from the highest court of the land. The enormous task of providing justice to complex gender issues will ask for sensitive hands.

The number of women justices in the apex court is abysmally low considering the exploding population and the issues to be addressed. As per estimates, India will become the most populous country overtaking China by 2024, will India still be having an only one-woman judge in the apical court to serve the vast female population of the country even then?

The presence of serving women judges in the judiciary adds value to the respect and dignity of the courts of the land. The President of the International Association for Women Judges (IAWJ) Judge Vanessa Ruiz speaking at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2019 says “The entry of women judges into spaces from which they had historically been excluded has been a positive step in the direction of judiciaries being perceived as being more transparent, inclusive, and representative of the people whose lives they affect. By their mere presence, women judges enhance the legitimacy of courts, sending a powerful signal that they are open and accessible to those who seek recourse to justice”.

India has always been graced by women in high positions, be it Pratibha Patil as President of India, Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister, Meira Kumar as first woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha, or Sucheta Kriplani as the first woman Chief Minister of an Indian state but the gender equality must seep deeper into the system at every level with the appointment of more women in the high-ranking positions in the judiciary and other spheres of the legislature and the executive. The legislature has been debating the Women’s Reservation Bill for decades with no consensus with the hope that it will see the light of day.

While Justice Fatima Beevi holds the record as the first woman judge and Justice Ruma Pal as the longest-serving female judge of the Supreme Court of India, a day will come when India will hold a record of the largest number of women judges in the world in its Supreme Court. Until then, the apex court will largely remain a male bastion.

Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer, and he is writing his first book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

Best Shows To Binge Watch On Netflix!

Bored? Best shows to binge watch on Netflix!

By Dhiraj Kumar

The explosion of the OTT (over the top) platform in the last few years with the entry of Netflix in India in 2016 triggered an avalanche of multiple players to enter this booming market. The streaming platform does not use the traditional cable, satellite, or television channels but a simple high-speed WIFI connection at home would be ample to enjoy the universe of world-class programs in the comfort of your home.
US-based OTT and production company Netflix was the first to bring its globally popular shows in India, followed by Amazon Prime, Alt Balaji, Disney-Hotstar, SonyLiv, Apple TV, Zee5, ErosNow, MX Player, and many others. Here’s a list of the best shows and films on Netflix for you to binge-watch this weekend.

Wanted (2016-2018)

The story from down under was one of the most-watched shows in Australia from 2016 to 2018. The protagonists, supermarket teller Lola Buckley and accountant Chelsea Babbage get involved unexpectedly in a wild chase across Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand to absolve themselves of a crime that was thrust upon them. It all starts at a bus stop when they are kidnapped in the boot of a car as they were a witness to a shootout. A ruthless businessman chases them to erase a footprint of a crime, he committed thirty years ago. Feisty Lola and prim Chelsea improvise in dangerous situations as they run along in this crime drama series spread across three seasons.

The Dig (2021)

Inspired from a true story of the Sutton-Hoo treasures in the mounds of Woodbridge, Suffolk in England, The Dig tells us a fascinating archaeological story from the year 1939. Edith Pretty, a British landowner appoints a local self-taught archaeologist-excavator Basil Brown to inspect and dig strange mounds in a specific tract of land in her large estate. Though reluctant in the start, Basil Brown gets down to dig the knolls only to unravel the secret remains of a 6th-century ship and artifacts of the Anglo-Saxon period. The find fetches interest of the British museum which takes over the dig and relegates Basil Brown to the side-lines as a worker. Together they excavate the remains which turn out to be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in England. Though Basil Brown did not get any credit for his discovery then, today his name features prominently next to Edith Pretty in the British Museum.

Designated Survivor (2016-2019)

Storylines around the White House and the American president follow similar paths leading POTUS to save the world from some danger but not Designated Survivor. This thriller series turns the story on its head when the entire Government of the United States vanishes into thin air in a premeditated bomb explosion during the State of the Union address at the US Capitol building. One man, Tom Kirkman (played by Kiefer Sutherland) who is the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is kept at a safe location as the designated survivor. In the commotion that follows, a shocked Tom is instantly sworn in as President. The three-season thriller series unlocks Tom who restores the entire government and the faith of the American people, but not before he develops his political skills and loses his life partner on the way. Designated Survivor is an edge-of-the-seat show that busts dangerous conspiracies against Tom Kirkman and the USA, culminating into an ultimate whodunnit.

The Last Czars (2019)

A docudrama depicting the tragic life of a Russian Czar is a brilliant portrayal of the Romanov Dynasty. The series tracks the tumultuous reign of the Russian Czar Nicholas II from his anointment in 1894 to his murder in 1918. The six-episode tragic drama exposes the fragile governance of Nicholas II and his wife’s Czarina blind faith in the evil Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. Though there are minor errors in the historical depiction of the times of the czars, the series is a crash course into one of Russia’s most turbulent regimes.

Merlin (2008-2012)

If you want to forget your life’s worries and replace that with some magic, then Merlin is the show for you. This is the story of the mythical boy-magician Merlin who is the faithful servant to Prince Arthur Pendragon of Camelot. In a kingdom of iron-fisted king Uther Pendragon where the practice of sorcery of the old religion is outlawed, Merlin practices magic under the tutelage of court physician Gaius to save the king’s son, Prince Arthur from the dangers of paranormal forces. Arthur is dismissive of his servant, blissfully unaware that Merlin was the biggest sorcerer of all ages. Each time Merlin is stuck, he summons a fire-spitting great dragon Kilgharrah below the castle’s secret basement to rescue him, but the dragon savior extracts his wishes for advice. This fascinating five-season adventure series has Colin Morgan as the perfect Merlin who infuses just the right amount of magic in his performance making this show a must-watch.

The Crown (2016-2020)

Netflix drew numerous Indians to subscribe to its platform on the global popularity of The Crown with its launch in 2016. Based on the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II of the Windsor dynasty who is currently on the throne as the Queen of England, the series accounts the journey of her life through significant chapters in world history. The four seasons chart her reign from before her coronation in 1952 to her trauma of the purported separation of Charles and Princess Diana in the 1990s. The makers had envisioned to depict each phase of Elizabeth’s life to be played by an actor from that relevant age group, to bring authenticity to their performance. Hence the young Elizabeth was played brilliantly by Claire Foy in seasons 1 -2 and the older Elizabeth is currently being played by a dazzling Olivia Colman in seasons 3-4. Though critics have often pointed out historical inaccuracies in the show, the genius of creator and writer Peter Morgan makes this series a cannot be missed program on all OTT.

Ratched (2020)

Ratched is an American psychological thriller drama series that debuted on Netflix in September 2020. Netflix introduced the show as “Ratched is a suspenseful drama series that tells the origin story of asylum nurse Mildred Ratched”. Mildred joins the Lucia State Hospital under Dr. Richard Hanover with a hidden motive. Her secret plan is to get her foster brother Edmund to break free from the hospital prison where he is being held in captivity for killing four priests. She conspires against Richard and head nurse Betsy Bucket, implicating them, and then takes control of the hospital. Sarah Paulson who plays the ruthless Mildred Ratched essays the brutal character with an equally chilling performance.

House of Cards (2013-2018)

If you are interested in the exposed belly of the ruthless American political landscape, then the magnificent House of Cards is the show for you. The series is based on the fictional characters of the malevolent husband-wife duo Frank and Claire Underwood. Bruised on being denied the position of the Secretary of State under President Garrett Walker, Frank is relegated to be appointed the Majority Whip to push the President’s agenda in Congress. Licking his wounds, he unleashes his wrath on each individual who comes in his way to attain the ultimate prize- The Presidency. Sadistic Frank and a shrewd Claire cleverly navigate their way to the top of the heap while they manipulate dangerous situations and hapless people to secure the Presidency of the United States for both. This dark, edge-of-the-seat thriller is a delicious six-season web series that can be devoured in a binge!

The Assassination of Gianni Versace- American Crime Story (2018)

The second season of the American Crime Story is based on the brutal assassination of world-famous designer Gianni Versace by a mentally disturbed serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Early morning on July the 15th, 1997 Versace who had just returned from his ritualistic visit to a magazine and coffee shop is killed on the point-blank range by Andrew on the steps of his famous Versace residence, the Miami Beach House. The story takes the viewer into the deranged mind and incidents that shape Andrew’s erratic behavior, leading to the series of horrible murders he commits before killing Versace. Shot in the actual Miami Beach House of Versace with special permission, the series gets as close to reality as it can. Special mention of the precise casting of the actors who fit perfectly into their roles of Versace, played by Edgar Ramirez and Andrew enacted by Darren Criss in the award-winning show.

The Staircase (2018)

A limited series based on the investigation into the horrific death of Kathleen Peterson in the staircase of their house in North Carolina, USA. Her husband, novelist Michael Peterson and she spend a quiet evening by the swimming pool on the 9th of December 2001. Kathleen leaves the pool area to retire for the day. She gets into the house to finish a few chores and then to call it a day. When Michael enters the house after some time, he discovers his wife at the bottom end of the staircase in the drawing-room in a pool of blood. He tries to revive her and frantically calls the emergency number 911. Police charge Michael on suspicion of murdering his wife. The Staircase series takes us through the arguments of the defense and prosecution in the courtroom, analysing the various facets of the investigation into the accidental death or murder of Kathleen Peterson. It’s a sad story.

Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer and he is writing his first book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

Amazon Vs Future Retail Reliance Legal War

AMAZON Vs FUTURE RETAIL- RELIANCE: KHELA HOBE Vs KHELA KHATAM?

By Dhiraj Kumar

(Dhiraj Kumar is a former employee of Future Group, author & writer)

One of the most bitterly fought court cases running in India today is unquestionably the tussle between global behemoth Amazon Inc. and India’s giant Reliance Industries Ltd. The point of contention is the Rs 24713 crore sale of India’s foremost retailer Future Retail to Reliance Retail. The spotlight is on three men who are known be the masters of their respective games. The world’s richest man Jeff Bezos, India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani and the founder of modern trade in India, Kishore Biyani. If we were to profile the three men and their globally acclaimed companies, one would get a sense of pure passion, dedication, a madness to win the customer and being one step ahead than their competitors as their key traits.
Both Jeff Bezos and Kishore Biyani are first generation titans of their businesses while Mukesh Ambani is a second-generation industrialist, son of one of the most respected Indian business pioneers, Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani. Mukesh took over the burgeoning empire of his father and nurtured it manifold in size to be named the richest man in Asia and one of the top 5 richest in the world.
Future Group was constructed brick by brick to encapsulate the sheer vision of Kishore Biyani who is also known as the father of modern retail in India. Over twenty years of toil and hard work he built one of the most aggressive, dominant, and innovative companies in India which redefined the way the Indian consumer shopped for his daily needs.
The flagship brand Big Bazaar under Future Group was founded by Biyani in 2001 with the first store in Kolkata which was a success from day one. Big Bazaar changed the retail landscape in India and got the country shopping in modern stores away from the traditional Kirana or mom and pop stores. Foraying into tier-2 and tier-3 towns, the brand changed the way India shopped and brought their monthly clothing and grocery needs. The mouth watering discounts and mega deals drove millions of people to the brand. Biyani pioneered the concept of celebrating Independence Day and Republic Day as ‘Big Days’ and later as ‘Sabse Saste Paach Din’ (SS5D) which was emulated by other brick and mortar retailers and e-commerce giants. His idea of rejoicing a mundane middle of week day as ‘Wednesday Bazaar’ changed the way the shoppers queued up for 1kg of sugar on a Wednesday. The company was bullish about its future and prepared a vision document to become one of the largest FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies in the next few decades, owing to the success of its privately labelled own food brands. Post 2015, Future group ambitiously began acquiring companies- Bharti Walmart JV, the Easyday stores, the Heritage stores and the franchise operated stores of Nilgiris which put pressure on its finances. To their credit its noteworthy that the promoters of Future Group depended only on retail for their cashflow in contrast to its bitter rival Dmart (real estate), Reliance (oil and natural gas), More (part the Birla giant conglomerate) and Star Bazaar (part of the Tata group).
To invite more investors into the business, Future Group entered into an agreement with Amazon in August 2019 to invest in a Future Group promoter entity, Future Coupons to buy a 49% stake for Rs 1,500cr giving Amazon a 3.6% stake in Future Retail. This decision was to come back to bite Future Group within a year. Amazon invested with an option of buying into the flagship Future Retail after a period of three to 10 years.

The doyen of Indian retail, Kishore Biyani had the most difficult decision at hand in May 2020 during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, to sell off the company to his rival- billionaire Mukesh Ambani due to depleting cash flows due to lockdowns and closure of stores.
After hectic negotiations, Biyani bit the bullet when Future group announced a deal to sell off the retail, wholesale & logistics business in a slump sale for Rs 24,713 cr to Reliance Retail in August 2020. Infuriated by the decision, Amazon scrambled its legal team and filed a case Singapore-based Emergency Arbitrator to restrain FRL from proceeding with the deal in October 2020. Amazon has a keen eye on the exploding retail market in India and considers Reliance its long-term rival. Future Retail which controls a significant pie of the sales, data and customers became a point a contention. The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) passed an interim award in favour of the US E-Commerce giant and the deal stalled. Meanwhile Biyani wrote a passionate letter to the employees, vendors and stakeholders saying “The RIL transaction considers the interest of Future Group’s stakeholders, including supply partners, vendors, lenders, creditors, and employees, Biyani said in his letter to supply partners”.
The Reliance- Future Group camp appointed the top most lawyers to argue its case in the High Court in New Delhi pleading the court to pronounce the interim award of the SIAC invalid and be allowed to proceed to conclude the deal. In Dec 2020, Future Retail moved Delhi High Court in a suit, that sought to restrain Amazon from writing to regulators namely the Securities and Exchange Board of India and National Company Law Tribunal to not approve the deal. After several back-and-forth decisions by the lower courts on the validity of the verdict of SIAC and the deal per se Amazon moved the Supreme Court, challenging lifting of the stay on FRL-RIL deal, by the lower court. Amazon has repeatedly argued that in the 2019 deal the agreement contained clauses saying the Indian group couldn't sell its retail assets to anyone on a "restricted persons" list, including Reliance. Amazon argued that the Delhi High Court's order was "illegal" and "arbitrary" and the company, which has committed $6.5 billion in investments in India, would face "irreparable harm" if the Supreme Court of India did not intervene.
Supreme Court Justices R F Nariman and B R Gavai reserved their orders on July 29th 2021 and the verdict was passed on 6th of August 2021 that the Singapore Emergency Arbitrator decision to restrain Future Retail from going ahead with its merger with Reliance Retail is valid and enforceable and falls within the ambit of Arbitration and Conciliation Act. Point to note is the Supreme Court judgment is confined to the enforceability of Emergency Arbitrator Order and the judgment does not deal with the merits of the Future Retail merger with Reliance and the final decision is awaited. A review petition may be filed by Future Group in the days ahead.
While Future Group and Reliance Retail stocks tumbled in the stock market following the ruling of the Supreme Court, Amazon spokesperson: “We welcome the verdict of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India upholding the Emergency Arbitrator’s award. We hope that this will hasten a resolution of this dispute with Future Group.”
Future Group has consistently argued in higher and lower courts that the deal with Reliance secures a bright future not only for the company but also its employees, contract workers, vendors and investors. If the deal does not materialise, thousands of lives and livelihoods are at stake. Looking at the larger picture, the retail industry in India is a US$ 900 billion market with a potential to cross over a trillion dollars by 2024. Mergers and acquisitions forces consolidation of the industry which leaves the keys of the burgeoning retail industry in the hands of the super-rich namely Amazon, Reliance and Tatas.
Whoever wins the final court verdict, it is the future of the multi-billion-dollar Indian retail industry, the employees, the stakeholders, and lastly the Indian consumer that is at stake. May the best man or men win!

Joe Biden's European Expedition

JOE BIDEN’S EUROPEAN EXPEDITION

By Dhiraj Kumar

It has been almost five months since Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. took office as the 46th President of the United States defeating Donald Trump in a closely contested election in January 2021. Biden’s first trip as U.S. President took place last week when he departed for an extensive visit to Europe. He had a packed schedule ahead of him of including attending the 47th G7 summit, the NATO summit, the meeting with the European council, and a highly anticipated first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the US-Russia summit.
First on the schedule was a visit to the ceremonial county of Cornwall in southwest England where the G7 countries had assembled from 11th to 13th June to discuss the challenges impacting the world. The 2020 meeting had been canceled due to the raging Covid-19 pandemic. Apart from the G7, India, South Africa, South Korea, and South Africa were also invited to the meeting. Queen Elizabeth, the royal family, and the United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the attendees on the first day of the summit and clicked a famed photograph with the G7. Covid-19 response and climate change were top of the agenda for this year. G7 has had strained relations with Russia and member countries have had differing opinions of inviting Russia to the grouping. Biden took the G7 opportunity to strike a new relationship with his one-on-one meetings with world leaders Angela Merkel, Emanuel Macron amongst others. At a press conference after the summit, his opening remarks called the G7 meeting an “extraordinary, collaborative and productive meeting” and announced that there will be an alternative found for China’s belt and road initiative “there is a much more equitable way to provide for the needs of the countries across the world”. Biden and the G7 agreed to help meet a $40 trillion infrastructure support for the developing world in the areas of climate, health, digital technology, and gender equality. He spoke about the Covid-19 pandemic and stressed on economic recovery, pledging the US will donate 500 million Pfizer vaccines for other countries, out of which 200 million will be despatched by the end of 2021. He ended the trip to the UK with the visit to Windsor Castle to a ceremonial reception accorded by the Queen. Biden happens to be the 13th sitting president to have met the longest-reigning monarch. The G7 gave a thumbs up to Joe Biden calling him a “breath of fresh air”. His previous experience of working as Obama’s Vice President from 2008-16 gave him a good start with other world leaders.
Joe Biden landed in Brussels for the US-EU summit, where a breakthrough was achieved. The discussions between Biden, European Council President Charles Michel, right, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen helped address the longest-running dispute in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to halt the 17-year-old trade war over aircraft subsidies for 5 years. The European Council heaved a sigh of relief as these subsidies had created impediments in their relationship with the US. Putting the subsidy issue at the backburner, the US & EU were positively moving from “litigation to cooperation”. It was time to prioritize other issues that needed urgent attention. US & EU have a firm eye on China and its growing influence. The US Commerce Secretary Gina Marie Raimondo in an interview remarked their priority is to “write the rules of the road”. She mentioned that they faced a common economic threat as China flooded cheap iron and steel flooding the US market against which domestic firms needed to be protected. US and EU Council also agreed to create a new council for trade and technology that “will cover a number of significant areas of priority for both the United States and the European Union, from coordinating on standards for new technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology; to coordinating on supply chain resilience; to coordinating on import or investment screening and export controls; to coordinating on how best to reform the WTO”.
The influence of Russia and China was the key focus at the NATO Summit attended by Joe Biden. He aims to partner with Pacific and Atlantic countries to take on the twin challenge of Russia and China on a long-term basis. An America “back on track” after the controversial Trump era, signaled strengthening of relationships with allies to take on the challenges posed by China and Russia. The formation of the QUAD countries India, Japan, Australia, and United States, and the NATO alliance would be Biden’s plan to encircle China on its expansionism and economic havoc while with Russia the Quad and NATO partnerships aim to take on cybersecurity, human rights, and arms control as an agenda. In his press conference, Biden announced “"America is back in the business of leading the world alongside nations who share our most deeply held values. I felt a genuine sense of enthusiasm that America was back at the table and fully engaged” calling it a day of “productive meetings”.
The best was kept for the last. All eyes were on the Biden-Putin summit to be held in Geneva, Switzerland on the 16th of June 2021. An ornate 18th-century villa, Villa la Grange, on the bank of Lake Geneva was chosen as the venue where two of the world’s most powerful, influential adversaries were to meet for the first time in a face-to-face meeting after Joe Biden took office in January 2021. Putin and Biden arrived in large cavalcades of limousines to the reception podium where Swiss President Guy Parmelin had the fortune of hosting the two warring countries on Swiss soil. After the initial handshake, both leaders got down for a serious discussion on issues to end the stalemate in relations. The meeting with Putin in Geneva lasted nearly 4 hours where Biden remarked they “covered so much, no misunderstandings” and “both sides summarised points” of what was discussed, and he was surprised to mention that the “meeting finished quicker than anticipated”.
Joe Biden and Putin addressed press conferences separately to inform the world of their “cordial talks”. Biden in his media interaction said, "The tone of the entire meeting was good, positive," Biden said, adding: "The bottom line is, I told President Putin that we need to have some basic rules of the road that we can all abide by". Biden remarked that the discussions between them were “absolutely constructive”. The first agreement was to return the respective ambassadors to each other countries. The diplomatic relations had suffered hugely when Biden called Putin a “killer” in a television interview.
They discussed to “hope to maintain peace and security in Afghanistan” and limiting the use of nuclear weapons”. Cyber-attacks and security were high on the agenda of Biden as he picked up the topic with Russia saying that the USA will retaliate against any country from where the cyber-attack originates. (Majority of cyber-attacks in the US are purportedly launched from Russia). The U.S. has been worried about increasing cyber-attacks in the areas of energy systems to water resources. Biden hopes to have Putin’s backing on a “Cybersecurity arrangement”. Vladimir Putin in his press conference said that “assessments differ” but “understand each other” and “will work on converging positions”. Putin also appreciated Biden remarking "He's a balanced and professional man, and it's clear that he's very experienced, it seems to me that we did speak the same language." As an upholder of democratic values and human rights, Biden stressed the point that the U.S. will keep an eye on the human rights abuses and will not hesitate to take the matter when required.
Dubbed as a power summit, the one-to-one Biden-Putin meeting had extremely low expectations from the word go due to the tensions prevailing for the past many years between both countries. Their talks in listening to each other, appreciating points of view, and agreeing to work together to converge positions is being considered a positive step for world peace and progress.
Biden’s endeavor in the European excursion was to undo the damage done by ex-US President Trump in his rash behavior towards allies and his softer stance towards Russia. Towards the end Biden remarked to the press corps “We will find out, within the next 6 months to a year where there we have a strategic dialogue is working or not”. Only time will tell how much this meeting between Biden and Putin and Biden’s eight-day European excursion bears fruit.

Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer, and he is writing an upcoming book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

Repertoire of Sridevi Kapoor’s Greatest Performances.jpg

Sridevi Kapoor: 58th birth anniversary-13th August 2021

Repertoire of Sridevi Kapoor’s Greatest Performances

By Dhiraj Kumar

(Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer and is writing an upcoming book)

Sridevi Kapoor was the greatest Indian actress who strode like a colossal when she ruled the Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu film industries concurrently, a feat which has been unachieved by any actor or actress in Indian cinema. On her 58th birth anniversary, here is a list of her greatest acts over the decades, a shortlist from her exceptional filmography of 300 films in 5 languages over 5 decades.

Film: Thunaivan (1969)
Age: 6
Genre: Mythological
Language: Tamil

One of the earliest films of Sridevi, Thunaivan is a mythological film that depicts the eminence of Lord Murugan through his divine miracles. Sridevi plays the child version of Lord Murugan who comes to a rescue of a distressed couple whose child is unwell since birth. A six-year-old Sridevi makes a short appearance as the divine Lord to revive the sick child speaking innocent dialogues given to her. At that tender age, she commanded the climax of the film. Sridevi was exceptional from the very beginning.

Film: Maa Nana Nirdoshi (1970)
Age: 7
Genre: Thriller
Language: Telugu

Playing a child detective, Sridevi teams up with another child actor to play her earliest role in Telugu cinema. A murder mystery is unraveled by Sridevi who becomes a baby Sherlock Holmes to find the killer and rescue an innocent victim.

Film: Poompatta (1971)
Age: 8
Genre: Social Drama
Language: Malayalam

Sridevi won her first state award from the Kerala Government for her outstanding performance in the Malayalam film Poompatta. Sridevi plays Sarada who undertakes hardships as an orphan after her mother’s sudden demise. The scene in which Sridevi begs for the attention of her mother at her grave is a glimpse of her exceptional talent at that young age.

Film: Babu (1972)
Age: 9
Genre: Social Drama
Language: Tamil

Acting opposite Tamil matinee idol Shivaji Ganesan, Sridevi presents two sides of the coin as a rich and poor girl. When life takes a sudden turn and her affluent family encounters abject poverty, Sridevi enacts each end of the spectrum with aplomb.

Film: Yashoda Krishna (1975)
Age: 12
Genre: Mythological
Language: Telugu

Sridevi’s last film as a child artist before she became the numero uno actress was her portrayal as child Lord Krishna. At the cusp of teenage, Sridevi as Lord Krishna triumphs good over evil as she clashes with the tyrant ruler and uncle Kansa in a powerful climax.

Film: Moondru Mudichu (1976)
Age: 13
Genre: Revenge-Drama
Language: Tamil

One of her earliest films as a heroine, Sridevi is an absolute marvel in the film acting opposite Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth. At the threshold of teenage, Sridevi’s performance as college girl Selvi who takes sweet revenge (of aiding the death of her love interest Kamal Hassan) on Rajinikanth by marrying his widowed aged father thereby becoming his stepmother! Films like these honed her skills and talents in Tamil cinema.

Film: 16 Vayathinile (1977)
Age: 14
Genre: Romance-Drama
Language: Tamil

Garnering commercial success in Tamil and later Telugu (Padaharella Vayasu), Sridevi is a heart and soul as Mayil in this film and presents the triumphs and tribulations of a 16-year-old girl who undergoes puberty, crush, love, betrayal, and adoption to the varied situations that she faces. She was only 14 years when she played a character titled 16 years old.

Film: Vetagadu (1979)
Age: 16
Genre: Action Thriller
Language: Telugu

A gigantic success in Telugu cinema, this was the first test of Sridevi to establish herself as a commercial heroine and strike chemistry with senior actors like N.T. Rama Rao. Not only did she shine in the film, but also carved her own path while working with senior actors in Tamil and Telugu cinema. Sridevi was famous for molding her partnership and customizing her appearance with each actor opposite her.

Film: Karthika Deepam (1979)
Age: 16
Genre: Family-Drama
Language: Telugu

Playing the role of a pregnant woman, Sridevi etched her name in the annals of Telugu cinema in her portrayal as Radha. Acting opposite stalwarts like Shobhan Babu and Sharda, she stood her cinematic ground and gave a towering performance as a woman whose husband was already married. Torn between right and wrong, Radha’s fate hangs in equilibrium.

Film: Premabhishekam (1981)
Age: 18
Genre: Romance-Drama
Language: Telugu

Acting as a child artist with Telugu icon, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Sridevi now becomes his heroine a decade later in this romantic drama film. With shades inspired from the novel Devdas, Sridevi embodies the role of Parvati from the novel in her character as Devi who is unaware of her fiancée's illness and is too late by the time, she discovers the truth.

Film: Moondram Pirai (1982)
Age: 19
Genre: Romance-Drama
Language: Tamil

Etched forever in the minds of the Tamil audience, Moondram Pirai was the original version of the more famous Sadma (1983). Sridevi's portrayal as a 6-year-old amnesiac became the reference point in Indian cinema for any actor or actress playing differently-abled roles. Sridevi and Kamal Hassan deliver the gold standard in Tamil cinema. As a woman is rescued as a mentally ill patient by a school teacher and she becomes the world for him until her memory returns. Littered with sensitive moments, Moondram Pirai is a heartbreaker with its magnificent climax.

Film: Devatha (1982)
Age: 19
Genre: Romance
Language: Telugu

Playing the titular role, Sridevi becomes a Devata for the Telugu audience with the stupendous success of the film. The original version of Tohfa (1984), Devatha is a love triangle in which Lalitha, played by Sridevi has to sacrifice her love interest for her elder sister who is in love with the same man. Lalitha marries a ruffian and lives a life of anonymity until life takes another turn.

Film: Jaag Utha Insaan (1984)
Age: 21
Genre: Social Drama
Language: Hindi

Playing a rural girl from the upper caste who falls in love with a village Dalit, Sridevi changed gears to work in socially relevant films concurrently churning blockbuster commercial potboilers. Sacrificing her love, she marries a village priest who views her as a goddess rather than his wife!

Film: Nagina (1986)
Age: 23
Genre: Revenge-Fantasy
Language: Hindi

Sridevi performs a bravura act as a shape-shifting snake in this film and extended her cinematic kingdom to the far reaches of North India with her popularity. Nagina remains the greatest snake film of all time in Indian cinema, even after decades no actress has been able to hold a candle to her performance.

Film: Mr. India (1987)
Age: 24
Genre: Action-Fantasy
Language: Hindi

One of Sridevi’s greatest acts in Hindi was her role as a crime reporter Seema in Mr. India. Seema dives into the villain’s den to extract her due playing ‘Charlie Chaplin’ and a ‘Hawa Hawai’ in one of the best children’s films in Indian cinema. Her seductive act in ‘I Love You’ song is one of the most elegant songs in celluloid history. Sridevi was the heart and soul of the film.

Film: Aakhari Poratam (1988)
Age: 25
Genre: Action-Thriller
Language: Telugu

Playing a CBI officer, Sridevi is tasked to unravel the crime kingdom of the villain. She teams up with newcomer Telugu actor Nagarjuna as they navigate through a superlative script to save the country from evil manifestations. She sacrifices her life at the end after exposing and killing the notorious criminal.

Film: Chandni (1989)
Age: 26
Genre: Romance-Drama
Language: Hindi

Yash Chopra cast her as the ethereal Chandni who is a girl from a small town and falls in love with a boy from an affluent family in Delhi. Fate intervenes and their engagement breaks following an accident in which the injured hero abandons her with a noble intention to push her to move on in life. Sridevi singularly charms the country with her performance as Chandni who has to choose between two lovers.

Film: Chaalbaaz (1989)
Age: 26
Genre: Comedy
Language: Hindi

Watching a twin sister saga was never that fun, till Sridevi played Anju Manju in Chaalbaaz. She redefined the lost and found genre in Hindi cinema with an act that has not been replicated by another actress to date. The docile Anju and the feisty Manju continue to charm viewers in this rib-tickling comedy.

Film: Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari (1990)
Age: 27
Genre: Fantasy
Language: Telugu

Sridevi personifies the splendor of an angel who lands to the earth from heaven in this socio-fantasy film in search of a lost ring which is her passport to heaven. Looking every inch, a celestial being, Sridevi magnified her screen presence with her shimmering beauty and exceptional talent to make a fantasy look believable.

Film: Lamhe (1991)
Age: 28
Genre: Romance
Language: Hindi

A classic love story set in Rajasthan and England sets Pooja and Pallavi to present themselves as two women characters decades apart involved in different relationships with the same man. Yash Chopra’s most personal favorite film is a cult film that redefined the barriers and boundaries of love. Sridevi in a double role serves an incredible performance with astonishing class.

Film: Khuda Gawah (1992)
Age: 29
Genre: Action-Romance
Language: Hindi

The frame of Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan coming together for a magnum opus could not get bigger. Set in Afghanistan, Sridevi plays Benazir who awaits a lifetime for a husband to return from India, and also plays her daughter Mehendi who travels to India to find her lost father and helps to unite her parents.

Film: Gumrah (1993)
Age: 30
Genre: Action-Romance
Language: Hindi

Locked up in a prison in Hong Kong for alleged drug trafficking, Sridevi plays a terrific role as Roshni in this Mahesh Bhatt directorial. Aided by her admirer and her lost father, Roshni struggles with injustice and the lioness fights back to bring the preparator to justice.

Film: English Vinglish (2012)
Age: 49
Genre: Social Drama
Language: Hindi

A towering act showcased at a global stage, Sridevi in English Vinglish is pure genius. Her performance as Shashi made the film a masterpiece. Struggling with her knowledge of English and mocked by her family, Shashi secretly learns English in a crash course in New York much to the shock and surprise of her rude daughter and insensitive husband.

Film: Mom (2017)
Age: 53
Genre: Action-Thriller
Language: Hindi

An incredible performance which finally won her the National Award for Best Actress, Sridevi in her last film, plays a mother who avenges her daughter’s gang rape by unleashing her rage on the five culprits by killing them one by one with the help of a spy.

Avant Garde Narasimha Rao

P.V. Narasimha Rao Birth Centenary Anniversary

Avant-Garde “Insider” P.V. Narasimha Rao
By Dhiraj Kumar
28th June 2021 marks the end of the centenary celebrations of the father of Indian economic reforms, Telugu icon, linguist, scholar, and one of India’s pioneering prime ministers- Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao, or P.V. Narasimha Rao who was the 9th Prime Minister of India from 1991-96.
Hailing from an agrarian background from the village of Laknepalli in Warangal, in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Rao was a bright child with a progressive mindset even in his childhood. After his initial village education, Rao graduated in Arts from the Osmania University. With a law degree from Fergusson College in Pune, Rao was ready to take on the world. In the 1940s, Rao edited a Telugu weekly magazine called Kakatiya Patrika under the pen name Jaya-Vijaya, a writing passion that will be his lifelong indulgence. Summarising Rao’s literary dabble government website www.pmindia.gov.in posts “A man of many interests, he likes music, cinema, and theatre. His special interest lies in Indian philosophy and culture, writing fiction and political commentary, learning languages, writing poems in Telugu and Hindi, and keeping abreast of literature in general. He has successfully published ‘SahasraPhan’, a Hindi translation of late Shri Viswanatha Satyanarayana’s famous Telegu Novel ‘Veyi Padagalu’ published by Jnanpith; ‘Abala Jeevitam’, Telugu translation of late Shri Hari Narayan Apte’s famous Marathi Novel, “Pan Lakshat Kon gheto”, published by Central Sahitya Academy. He translated other famous works from Marathi to Telugu and from Telugu to Hindi and published many articles in different magazines mostly under a pen name.” In his lifetime, scholar Rao could speak 10 languages fluently and even learnt computer languages to keep up with the advent of mass computerization.
In the mid-1940s, his attention turned towards the exploding Indian Independence movement which was negotiating its way under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Post-Independence he joined the Indian National Congress (INC) signaling his entry into full-time politics. After becoming an MLA in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, Rao quickly rose the ranks to become the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1971, the year India was in a war with Pakistan over Bangladesh. In his short tenure of 467 days as Chief Minister, Rao efficiently enforced the land reforms and land ceiling acts.
A loyalist of the Gandhi family, he was particularly close to Indira Gandhi who promoted him to central deputation away from state politics. He handled the home, foreign affairs, and defense portfolios under the leadership of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, traveling extensively to U.K., West Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Egypt to further India’s foreign policy.
But the watershed moment in his career came when he had to fight his way in the Congress party meeting in the aftermath of the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. The likes of Sharad Pawar, Arjun Singh, N.D. Tiwari and Pranab Mukherjee stood in competition for the post of the Prime Minister and the office of the Congress President. The sympathy wave generated from the horrific demise of Rajiv Gandhi threw the Congress party into a leadership challenge when the Congress landed in pole position with 244 seats and 36% vote share to form a minority government with outside support. Rao did not even contest the Lok Sabha elections for 1991 and was on the verge of retirement from politics when destiny threw him into the ring as the top contender as India’s prime minister. With the thumping support of most Lok Sabha MPs, Rao was elected not only as Prime Minister but also as Congress President giving him total control over government and party.
Rao’s battle was only half won when he became an accidental Prime Minister. India’s low forex reserves, trade deficit, and financial obligations precipitated an unprecedented economic crisis. India was in a dire situation with money left for a mere three weeks' worth of imports and on the edge of bankruptcy unable to meet its financial requirements. A search operation began to find an incredible resume as the next Finance Minister. Rao was a shrewd politician and came up with a shortlist of men to take up the job in the Finance Ministry. The economist Rao wanted to be Finance Minister was I.G. Patel who declined the post. Bureaucrat P.C. Alexander suggested the name of Dr. Manmohan Singh who had previously served as professor of international trade, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, advisor to Prime Minister of India on economic affairs, and the then chairman of the University Grants Commission apart from a treasured virtue of being apolitical. Between them, they struck a partnership that saved India and its economy, the benefits of which we are still reaping even today. Rao’s greatest contribution has been to give a free hand to Singh to do as needed to get India out of the economic crisis, dismantle the license Raj and unleash landmark economic reforms while he dealt with the hefty political management of those decisions. The opening up of the economy and liberalization put India on a path of recovery, growth, and prosperity. The major decisions taken by Nar-Man were to devalue the rupee, abolish the Controller of Capital Issues which decided the prices and number of shares that firms could issue; reduced tariffs from an average of 85% to 25% and rolling back quantitative controls; introduced the SEBI Act to regulate the stock market; encouraging foreign direct investment; the opening of the equity markets to foreign institutional investment among other critical decisions. Meanwhile, Rao contested by-elections to become a member of the Lok Sabha and won with a record margin of over five lakh votes from Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh which entered the Guinness Book of Records.
Rao's relationship with Rajiv Gandhi’s widow, Sonia Gandhi went through several ups and downs throughout his tenure due to uneven communication and misunderstandings that rocked their personal equation. Its only decades later, in 2020, that Sonia Gandhi finally praised Narasimha Rao for “his bold leadership that saved India through grave crisis through many accomplishments and contributions”.
It was in Rao’s tenure that the long-standing Babri Masjid dispute shocked the nation when on 6th December 1992, kar sevaks demolished the centuries-old mosque, and Rao was accused of looking the other way while India’s secular credentials were at stake. The stain of Babri never really washed off his entire lifetime. The aftermath of the Babri incident led to the 1993 bomb blasts across 12 locations of Bombay that left 256 people dead and 1400 injured on 12th March 1993. His role as the home minister during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots was also brought into question.
Rao was instrumental in taking the steps in nuclear security which eventually led to the Pokhran II tests in 1998. After the Pokhran I test of 1974, initiated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, successive governments maintained a state of moratorium in fear of international sanctions. Rao reversed that policy by giving the green signal for preparing for a second test. The irony only being Rao did not get to execute the nuclear tests in his tenure but passed on the plans to Atal Bihari Vajpayee who pushed the button to huge electoral benefits.
One of the biggest triumphs of Narasimha Rao was in foreign policy when he mooted the “look east policy” which was a paradigm shift in India’s policy towards Southeast Asian countries. The growing clout of China in Southeast Asian economies had to be addressed by India by deeper engagement and strategic involvement in partnership with these countries. Using his experience as the Foreign Minister earlier he devised the policy to engage with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore which was aggressively pursued by Prime Ministers after him as “Act East Policy”. Rao had to deal with the growing influence of the United States under Bill Clinton, the dismantling of the Soviet Union and deepen ties with Israel.
Narasimha Rao moved from one crisis to another during his tenure. The Latur earthquake, the Purulia Arms dropping case, the Harshad Mehta stock market scam where he was accused but could not be proved of having taken Rs 1 crore as a bribe, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) bribe for votes to defeat the no-confidence motion, his association with dubious godman Chandraswamy, the Babri Masjid riots, rebellions within the Congress party, dismissal of the Kalyan Singh government, and the final solution to the Punjab crisis amongst many other.
After losing the general elections in 1996, Rao was forced to step down as Prime Minister after completing a full term as a minority government and as Congress President. He lived a quiet life in Delhi as a former Prime Minister. In 1998, PM Vajpayee released Rao’s insightful book “The Insider” which took the publishing world by storm. His relationship with Sonia Gandhi never repaired in his lifetime. When Rao died due to complications arising from a heart attack on 23rd December 2004, his mortal remains were not allowed in the AICC headquarters and his body was moved to Hyderabad where the Prime Minister and his senior cabinet members paid homage. Dr. Manmohan Singh and much later Sonia Gandhi have hailed him as a pioneer in governance initiatives and acknowledged his contribution to the development of India.
The legacy of P.V. Narasimha Rao will be of an avant-garde who thought out of box solutions to the many problems India was facing. He many have bungled in some situations but the long-lasting initiatives that he initiated are bearing profitable fruits, strengthening India even after decades.
Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer, and he is writing an upcoming book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

Covid-19 Fallout: Doctors Vs Mr. Ramdev

Covid Fallout: Doctors Vs Mr. Ramdev

By Dhiraj Kumar

All hell broke loose when Mr. Ramdev, India’s celebrated Yoga guru and the prime force behind one of India’s largest FMCG companies- Patanjali, accused “Allopathy” of not being able to cure Covid patients and killing them all. In a widely circulated video, Mr. Ramdev was seen addressing his followers saying, “lakhs have died from taking allopathic medicines for COVID-19.” In normal circumstances, the rantings could be ignored of anyone else but not of Mr. Ramdev who is revered by millions and owns the two largest religious television networks in Indian media. He further attacked Indian doctors stating, “many doctors have died of Covid as they could not cure themselves”. After a huge uproar in the doctor’s community led by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) reacted to the statements by Mr. Ramdev in his video and subsequent press releases and tweets though notices asking him to explain his views. Once the IMA attacked Mr. Ramdev, lesser-known individuals and organizations orchestrated an attack back on the IMA accusing the Government of India of neglecting Ayurveda. News channels were quick to label it as a war between “Allopathy Vs Ayurveda” & “Baba Vs Allopathy” where none existed till Mr. Ramdev showed doctors down. On Sunday, May 23, under pressure from doctors across the country, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan asked Baba Ramdev to withdraw his remarks, saying it disrespects 'corona warriors' and can break the morale of healthcare workers. Unrelenting, on the 24th of May, Mr. Ramdev issued an open letter asking the IMA 25 questions which stirred the debate further. The pinpointed questions were "Does the pharma industry have permanent treatment for thyroid, arthritis, colitis, and asthma?", "What treatment is there for cholesterol.", “if allopathy offered permanent relief from hypertension (BP) and type-1 and 2 diabetes”, "Does the pharma industry have treatment for migraine?", “is there any allopathic medicine to turn a cruel person into kind?” and many others.
A few days later Mr. Ramdev issued a summarised statement “I am withdrawing my statement on allopathy and modern sciences and putting an end to this whole debate surrounding the field of medicines,”. He suddenly appeared in multiple news channels in “exclusive” interviews to claim he never said and did not mean to hurt doctors or modern science. In several heated debates on television, IMA took Mr. Ramdev head on asking him to prove his claims or withdraw his statements. This led to the next round of arguments when the country, reeling under the second wave, did not need this distraction. The Indian Medical Association and other eminent institutes wrote to the government to seek its help to initiate legal actions against Mr. Ramdev as per the Epidemic diseases act, 1897. IMA along with the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), Junior Doctors Association (JDA). Resident Doctors Associations (RDAs) and United Resident Doctors Associations (URDAs) held a nationwide ‘Black Day’ protest on 1st June 2021.
On the same day, June 1st, Mr. Ramdev put out a video announcing that chronic asthma could be cured completely under Ayurveda which can only be treated in allopathy by taking a patient to death. On June 2nd, Mr. Ramdev equated the Drug Mafia and Allopathy in the same breath by claiming to have exposed them, while pushing the agenda of Ayurveda, naturopathy spiritual science contrary to an interview to Aaj Tak, where Mr. Ramdev on 31st May said that his fight is against drug mafia and not Allopathy. This cocktail of Drug Mafia with Allopathy proposed by him was not only not justifiable but also not digestible. The same day he also tweeted that Allopathy may use surgery or lifesaving drugs to solve 2% of the critical cases but the remaining 98% was cured by Ayurveda and naturopathy. Mr. Ramdev also dragged Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar (who took to the hospital when infected by Covid) by tweeting his old video where Akshay is seen saying that the strength of Ayurveda cannot be matched by modern science by any “chemical injection”, also included the testament of Aamir Khan of having a big expose on unnecessary drugs though his popular chat show “Satyamev Jayate”, boldly asking the drug mafia to take on Aamir Khan. Mr. Ramdev as the founder of one of India’s largest FMCG company claimed of not doing business but taking care of all Indians and curing them with the help of Ayurveda. On the same day, he tweeted a video of 81 one-year-olds who he claimed to have defeated Coronavirus through the dosage of Coronil.
But what explains Mr. Ramdev’s sudden diatribe against doctors and allopathy. A few years ago, the launch of Patanjali set a cat among the pigeons in the FMCG industry when the business of giants like Dabur, Colgate, and Unilever seemed to have got affected by the rocketing sales of Patanjali’s toothpaste, ghee, atta, soaps, washing powder and the like. Patanjali forayed into “Covid medicine” when Union Ministers Harsh Vardhan and Nitin Gadkari along with Mr. Ramdev, launched Coronil tablets at a press conference, on Feb. 19, 2021. The claims made by Coronil shocked the IMA which is the respected body for certifying and giving credence to medicine in India.
Mr. Ramdev could not have chosen a worse time to attack doctors and Allopathy when India was reeling under the horrid second wave of Covid-19. With close to 3 crore cases in India and over lakhs of people dead, the people of India had reposed their faith in our doctors during the first Covid wave in 2020 and the second wave in 2021. As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister had led a nationwide call to bang thaalis to thank the Covid warriors last year at the peak of the first wave thanking the doctors, nurses, and frontline workers who were working overtime to serve the suffering patients in hospitals. The second wave, which was even more severe and intense had again led the people to look up to the doctors to save the lives of their loved ones who themselves were infected by Covid during to the constant exposure at their workplace. A huge number of doctors have died due to Covid complications.
Mr. Ramdev is an exceptional Yoga guru who brought the wonders of Ayurveda before the current generation and explained its benefits through live events and television shows. As a brand ambassador of Ayurveda, he must avoid the conflict with Allopathy and choose a non-confrontational route to increase the usage and popularity of Ayurveda and Naturopathy. Choosing to attack revered doctors and modern medicine will impact the trust people repose in the medical solutions of today. Considering the large following and popularity he enjoys, Mr. Ramdev must focus on bringing the benefits of our ancient ayurvedic science positively without upsetting doctors and the medical fraternity.
Since ancient times, Indians have reaffirmed their belief in “Vaidyas” and “neem-hakeems” and even quacks to resolve their ailments. One of the most ancient veda is the Atharvaveda that includes mantras and verses for treating a variety of ailments dating back to 1000–900 BCE. The origins of Ayurveda date to the period between 600-200 BCE with some of the earliest references can be found in the Atharvaveda. Sacred books like the Charaka Samhita, the Sushruta Samhita and the Astangasangraha extensively discuss Ayurveda and its benefits. From treating royal Mughal emperors to barbaric British rulers to us Indians post-Independence, doctors have played an important role in India’s development. The development of western medicine has paved the way for faster and instant solutions to medical problems. For the past many decades' Indian doctors have used Allopathy to prove their mettle and have been applauded in multiple nations of the world and have been appointed Surgeon generals and heads of health institutions in their countries due to their exceptional intellect and service. Post-Independence, the most favored profession for parents to groom their child is to become a doctor, which is considered one of the noblest professions of all. Nehru’s vision to invest a lot of resources to open India’s greatest health institution- The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences was a tribute to the incredible doctors who were going to serve the nation for the next many decades.
Today the doctors are a worried lot, a demotivated set of professionals who need a healing touch and the gratitude of the nation to whom they have served effortlessly for decades.

Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer, and he is writing an upcoming book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

Richard Wins Fresh Race In Space Tourism

RICHARD WINS THE FRESH RACE IN SPACE TOURISM

By Dhiraj Kumar

In an age when going out of the house is prohibited due to Covid-19 restrictions, billionaire Richard Branson took a ride to space in his own spacecraft!
It’s been 52 years since Neil Amstrong and Buzz Aldrin created history when they landed on the moon in 1969. Every person who remained on earth, looked up into the sky aspiring to travel to space in their lifetime. Post that many astronauts have landed onto earth’s satellite and taken to space trained by global agencies like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Indian Space Research Organisation, Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, European Space Agency, or the China National Space Administration (CNSA). When Indian pilot Rakesh Sharma traveled to space on 3rd April 1984 and spoke to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi aboard the Russian Soyuz T-11, he ignited the dreams of a billion Indians to travel to space. His famous words from space were “Saare Jahan Se Acha” when the prime minister asked him how India looks from space.
Apart from astronauts who are the professionals who take space travel, cosmonauts are the non-professional staff like engineers and scientists who also travel to space to help or carry out scientific experiments or any technical help that may be needed. US citizen, Charles David Walker was the first non-governmental human to fly to space in 1984. Dennis Anthony Tito became the first entrepreneur to become the world’s first space tourist followed by Mark Richard Shuttleworth of South Africa and the third space tourist recorded in history was an entrepreneur and engineer Gregory Hammond Olsen while others also joined the bandwagon in subsequent years. This travel to space by entrepreneurs triggered a race amongst the billionaires of the world who in the self-actualization phase of their lives showed great interest in space tourism for ordinary enthusiasts. The three billionaires who dreamt of heralding a new era in space tourism are the founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, founder and Executive Chairman of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and the CEO and Chief Engineer of Space X, Elon Musk.
The first to start the journey was the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos who founded his space company Blue Origin in the year 2000. Jeff was fascinated by space and the night sky in his childhood. In an interview with the American newspaper Miami Herald, Jeff stated that he wanted “to build space hotels, amusement parks, and colonies for 2 million or 3 million people who would be in orbit. The whole idea is to preserve the earth”. His goal was to be able to evacuate humans. “The planet would become a park”, he said. For the past two decades, Blue Origin has been experimenting with its technologies intending to make “access to space cheaper and more reliable through reusable launch vehicles”.
Second, in line was billionaire Elon Musk who founded the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) in 2002 and took away the monopoly of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in launching rockets and astronauts into space. SpaceX became the first private company to send astronauts to orbit and also the first to reach the International Space Station. With multiple achievements to its credit, SpaceX is innovating new technologies to make space tourism a more common reality.
Billionaire Richard Branson not to be left far behind envisioned the need to push the need for space tourism and founded his company Virgin Galactic (VG) as early as 2004 intending to provide suborbital flights to space tourists. The parent company Virgin Group Ltd. founded by Branson had its iconic airline Virgin Atlantic which was founded in 1984, based out of the United Kingdom. Hence, he was not entirely new to air travel but space tourism had to be researched, experimented and understood. The first flight under Virgin Galactic was planned in 2010 but was delayed until 2018 when the maiden spaceflight took place in 2018 by the VG fleet VSS Unity to push the envelope for space tourism.
It's an irony that though Blue Origin was the first to start operations, it is Virgin Galactic which was founded last amongst the three companies, to take its historic flight to space under tourism in 2021.
Despite several deadline extensions Richard Branson prepped up for his space travel in 2021. He finally received the license, post intense testing and pilot tests, to fly paying customers to the edge of space in his Virgin Galactic rocket plane by the US Federal Aviation Administration. Millionaires and billionaires are paying up large sums of money to participate in history by traveling to space. Branson claims to have over 500 super-wealthy individuals with “deposits” waiting to be taken on a ride to space. Virgin Galactic spaceport in New Mexico, Southwestern United States is the launch pad of all future space flights with tourists.
While the race between the three billionaires was on, Richard Branson created history when he took off on a Virgin Galactic aircraft to the edge of the earth on the 11th of July 2021 with a qualified crew on board. Virgin Galactic employees Beth Moses, Colin Bennett, Sirisha Bandla, and pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci boarded the SpaceShipTwo, a winged plane with a single rocket motor, accompanied Branson on this historic trip. Sirisha Bandla is a Guntur, Andhra Pradesh born is an aeronautical engineer who is working as the vice president of government affairs for Virgin Galactic and became the fourth Indian ever to travel to space.
On the designated date, the spacecraft began its journey at 8:30 am MT and climbed to about 50,000 feet in the air. To understand the definition of space travel one must understand the significance of the Karman line named after physicist Theodore Von Karman whose research defined the limits of the earth’s atmosphere. The Karman line is the distance from earth’s sea level to 100 kilometers into space though the United States of America considers 80 kilometers above the sea level at the end of earth’s atmosphere and the starting of space.
Branson and his team were aboard the SpaceShipTwo, an air-launched suborbital spaceflight that was attached to the twin-fuselage mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, and is designed to detach itself from the mothership at a designated height in the sky. Forty-five minutes after take-off, the SpaceShipTwo detached from its mothership and dropped momentarily before its engine jumped to life and the vehicle swooped upward into space towards the Karman line. The Virgin flight was designed to reach nearly 86 kilometers into the air. Live visuals beamed from Branson’s journey into space and views could see the crew strapped to their seat belts enjoying the view outside their windows. CNN reported, “At the top of the flight path, more than 50 miles high, the vehicle was suspended in weightlessness for a few minutes, allowing the passengers to enjoy panoramic views of the Earth and space as SpaceShipTwo flipped onto its belly”. It was an emotional moment for Richard Branson who wrote a letter addressed to his heroic mother Eve Branson before his space flight. His twenty-year hard work had paid off. Branson who is 70 years old and an iconic business leader in the world of business, led by example to travel to space giving hope to hundreds of people who are lining up to live their dream of space tourism.
This historic flight opens up a huge opportunity in the space of wealthy non-professionals who desire to travel to space. For wealthy people, space tourism is a new addition to their bucket list, an unparalleled thrill. In a world of almost eight billion people, only a handful can ever boast of traveling beyond the borders of the earth. With tickets ranging from $200,000 and $250,000, it will still be out of reach for non-wealthy individuals until some billionaire takes pity and opens a lottery system to pick up ordinary people to make their dream come true. (Virgin is keen to take two space tourists in a lucky draw by taking donations for humanity). The future is bright for space enthusiasts but it will take decades before it becomes a common occurrence in travel.
While the world’s billionaires will queue up for space tourism, the rest of the ordinary mortals are at work from home!
Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer, and he is writing an upcoming book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

Dear Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Nehru Death Anniversary

Dear Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,

By Dhiraj Kumar

Dear Nehru ji,
I have never met you, have only seen you in photographs and videos, have only heard of you in legends and stories. You were long gone, in 1964, decades before I was born. Today on your death anniversary wanted to write to you to tell you of the India of today, India of 2021, the India you envisioned, the India whose strong foundations you laid down. Negative campaigns against you have not stopped even in the 21st century but laying a foundation of a building is easy in 1947 but setting the rock-solid bedrock of the country is extremely difficult. We are the proud citizens of a country to which you were the first Prime Minister. The institutions you created stand tall even after decades and here is a shortlist of their achievements.
IITs: You had established five globally recognized Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) by 1961, with the first IIT at Kharagpur. I am happy to inform to that today we have 23 IITs spanning from Kharagpur to Dharwad, churning out world-class students each year. You had the vision to set up an institute in India akin to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, which India could be proud of. At the first convocation at IIT Kharagpur, your prophetic words were: “Here in the place of that Hijli Detention Camp stands the fine monument of India, representing India's urges, India's future in the making. This picture seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India”.
Indian Armed Forces: Nothing makes us prouder than the valor and bravery of the Indian Armed forces. You inherited a small force of the army during the partition and without the advanced resources of today, you fought wars with Pakistan and China with foot soldiers and limited airpower. Today the Indian Army proudly is the largest standing army in the world, with active and reserve troops, also involved in peacekeeping missions across the world. We have established decisive victories against our enemy countries with our army, navy, and air force, be it in the 1965 war, 1967 war, 1971 war, 1984 Siachen, and the 1999 Kargil war.
Kashmir: Though Kashmir is very controversial even today and successive governments have not been able to solve it, it is you who rushed the army and air force to Kashmir and cornered Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir to sign the Instrument of Accession papers to accede into India on 26th October 1947. Your leverage with Sheikh Abdullah tilted the local population to accept India over Pakistan. Without you perhaps there would not have been a Kashmir. Yes, we are still lingering with the Kashmir issue, but an India without its Kashmir cannot be imagined. Between you and Sardar Patel, both made a wonderful team to govern India, be it Kashmir or the accession of the princely states into India, you were a partnership to which one can only aspire in today’s times.
IIMs: The world-renowned Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are one of the figments of your imagination, the first IIM launched in Calcutta in collaboration with the MIT Sloan School of Management, United States, the Ford company, and Indian industry, and the second one in Ahmedabad, both in 1961. Today we have 20 IIMs spanning from Ahmedabad to Jammu. These institutes were established at a time when India was an engineering-obsessed nation with management students less in demand. Thankfully today thousands of MBAs pass out each year, reaching the corners of the world and establishing their presence on the global stage.
BARC: Established on 3rd January 1954, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) formerly known as Atomic Energy Establishment near Mumbai is India’s most premier nuclear research facility. You established BARC with the vision to explore nuclear science, chemical engineering, material sciences & metallurgy, electronic instrumentation, biology and medicines, supercomputing, high energy, and plasma physics for the Indian nuclear program and related areas. The original mandate given by you was for sustainable and peaceful applications of nuclear energy. You also launched Apsara which was India's first nuclear reactor in 1956 and the Tarapur Atomic Power Station which started construction in 1961 under the aegis of the BARC which was commissioned in 1969. BARC was also pivotal in India’s nuclear program in 1974 in Pokhran I and in 1998 in Pokhran II and till today contributes to the nation’s needs.
ISRO: How does India thank you for your vision to put India at the forefront of space exploration. You established the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962 under the exceptional Vikram Sarabhai to formulate the Indian Space program. This great institution eventually became the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969. From the first rocket sent in 1964 to the Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan missions, to sending satellites of other countries on our missions, ISRO has come a very long way since 1962. You made India one of the top five space exploring countries because technology, experience, and experiments cannot be gained in a few years, it needs decades of hit and trial, which we got due to an earn start in the 1960’s.
DRDO: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was started by you in 1958 with the sole aim of developing defense technologies covering various fields, like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, land combat engineering, life sciences, materials, missiles, naval systems and even building fighter jets for the armed forces. Over the decades, DRDO launched the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme powering the Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul, Nag, Brahmos, Nirbhay, Shaurya, and many more missiles to safeguard India. Today, over 52 laboratories, 5000 scientists, and 25000 support staff run this incredible organization that you began 63 years ago.
SAIL: Today the world’s 20th largest and India’s largest steel producer Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) had its origins from the Hindustan Steel Limited (HSL) which was set up on 19 January 1954. The first steel plant under HSL was the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) that was launched in 1955 followed by the transformation of the village of Bhilai for the next steel plant. Today SAIL operates integrated steel plants in Bhilai, Rourkela, Durgapur, Bokaro, Burnpur, Salem, and Bhadravathi. With a whole list of awards and achievements, SAIL stands tall as a leading producer of steel in the world.
ONGC: In 1955, your government decided to develop the oil and natural gas resources in the various regions of the country as part of the Public Sector development and incorporated the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on the eve of Indian independence on 14th August 1956. Today that company has become a “Maharatna” company and is ranked as the most profitable PSU under the Government of India. ONGC has discovered 7 out of the 8 producing Indian Basins, adding over 7.15 billion tonnes of In-place Oil & Gas volume of hydrocarbons in Indian basins.
LIC: You founded the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) which was established on September 1, 1956, when the Parliament passed the Life Insurance of India Act that nationalized the insurance industry in India. Your vision of the institutional framework of insurance made LIC the most trusted brand even today after 65 years of inception. As per Google, the Life Insurance Corporation of India had a total life fund of ₹28.3 trillion as of 2019. That is the trust of the people of India in the institution you created.
AIIMS: You may not be aware, but these are the horrible times of a virus called Covid-19, hospitals have become a lifeline for pandemic hit patients and you conceptualized the largest hospital in India- The All-India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in 1956. Under your guidance, health minister Amrit Kaur lead the foundation of a hospital that even today is the most trusted health service institution in India. Projected as of 2025, India will have a total of 22 AIIMS operating in various parts of the country helping millions of patients from rural and urban India alike.
Atomic Energy Commission: One of the earliest institutions that you formed was the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) which was set up on 10 August 1948 under the Department of Scientific Research with the first chairman in the incredible Homi Bhabha. The major objective was to organize research in atomic science in the country, train atomic scientists in the country, promote nuclear research in the commission's laboratories in India, and undertake the prospect of atomic minerals in India and extract such minerals for use on an industrial scale. During the nuclear deal agreement with the United States under PM Manmohan Singh, AEC played a crucial role in getting nuclear sanctions lifted.
State Bank of India: The State Bank of India (SBI) is the banker to the Government of India and a financial behemoth that is the 43rd largest bank in the world. Your government took control of the erstwhile Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with the Reserve Bank of India taking a 60% stake, renaming it State Bank of India. Like the brand LIC, brand SBI is the most trusted banking choice for the people of India to open and transact their banking needs. With a revenue of US$ 54 billion, SBI stands as the tallest financial institution in India.
Bhakra Nangal Dam: Described as "New Temple of Resurgent India" by you in 1946 when you laid the foundation stone of the mighty Bhakra Nangal Dam in 1955 with a bucket of concrete into the dry riverbed of the Sutlej river. In 1963, you dedicated the largest dam of the time to the nation you said, “This dam has been built with the unrelenting toil of man for the benefit of mankind and therefore is worthy of worship. May you call it a Temple or a Gurdwara or a Mosque, it inspires our admiration and reverence". Today this dam is the third largest reservoir in India.
Foreign policy: The most distinguished service that you personally carved was the foreign policy of India. As a learned and scholarly prime minister, you had the divine knowledge of foreign affairs and the situation of the world post the second world war. The Panchsheel principles conceptualized by you guide the foreign policy of namely Coexistence, respect for the territorial and integral sovereignty of others, nonaggression, non-interference with the internal affairs of others, recognition of the equality of others, even today.
You created many more institutions that have stood the test of time. Nehru ji, India’s tryst with destiny continues, the one you ignited on the midnight of 14th-15th August 1947.
Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer, and he is writing an upcoming book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

The Tragedy of Covid Orphans

The Tragedy Of “Covid Orphans”

By Dhiraj Kumar

On 4th of May 2021, Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development, Smriti Irani tweeted “If you come to know of any child who has lost both parents to COVID and has no one to take care of her/him, inform Police or Child Welfare Committee of your district or contact Childline 1098. It is your legal responsibility. It is illegal to give or take orphan children of anyone else in adoption. Such children should be taken to Child welfare committee, which will take necessary action in the best interest of the child. If anyone contacts you regarding orphan children available for direct adoption, do not get into the trap & stop them. It’s illegal. Inform local Child welfare Committee or Police or Childline 1098 about such children. We all must ensure legal adoption, otherwise children can be trafficked in the name of adoption. Save them. Inform Police or Child Welfare Committee or Childline 1098 if you come to know of any such child. Please do not share pictures and contact detail of vulnerable children in distress situation in social media. Their identity is to be protected as per law. Instead, inform police, Child welfare committee or Childline 1098.” While the minister raised an important topic reacting to the clamor on social media about fake adoption rackets of children orphaned by Covid, sharing of details of lonely children, and the danger of child trafficking, the debate on the future of the “Covid Orphans” is still being furiously argued.
The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has swept through India like a giant poisonous serpent that just would not loosen its coils around the country and its hapless people. Poor preparation at the central government level on the forecast of a second wave resulting in Covid-19 infected people dying for want of facilities, oxygen, ventilators, beds, and medicines coupled with the addition of the Brazilian and South African new strains of virus has left a trail of devastation, not seen in India since Indian Independence in 1947. While the whole world has watched in horror and grieved the victims in urban India, “entire families have wiped out in rural India” as per ground reports of Bloomberg, reported by NDTV. With the countries of the world continuing to send aid and support, both state & central government waking up from slumber, media reporting at its peak on the carnage, vaccination bumbling from one day to the next, a whole set of junior citizens lie in the devastation of their own- the kids whose both parents have died due to Covid-19.
Dubbed as “Covid Orphans”, first coined on social media, these innocent toddlers have still no clue of what might have happened to their parents and why they still have not come home. It’s been days since they have seen their parents and unaware that they have passed on to another realm. The tragedy of the Covid Orphans as acute as the adult members left behind after their loved ones have died due to Covid. Relatives of the children from poor families whose both parents have passed away are informing the police as the first port of call, post that they are being sent to Child Welfare committees as per the established procedure. The others who are not being reported are in real danger of being targeted by drug traffickers and organ smugglers. In the urban elite centers, Covid Orphans are being taken care of by their closest relatives before the elders can decide their future course of action. The children will need a 25–30-year horizon for any living relative to plan for their future. Either way, the children are at the stage of emotional breakdown as many of them may still not have been told the truth of the fate of their parents. The real tragedy is how can the toddlers comprehend the truth and its repercussions at this young age. One yet does not know if these children are being counseled by special councilors who can delicately speak to them and try and ease their mental pain and pressure of having watched their parents die in front of their eyes. As per the Human Rights Watch “The risks posed by the COVID-19 crisis to children are enormous,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments need to act urgently to protect children during the pandemic, but also to consider how their decisions now will best uphold children’s rights after the crisis ends.”
With no other support system, orphaned children are landing up at the Child Welfare Committees in each state from where they are directed to other centers for rehabilitation.
Several NGOs have swung into action to take care of the Covid Orphans like Austria based SOS Children’s village which states on its website “SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit international development organization headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria. The organization provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children in need and protects their interests and rights around the world”.
Like the incoherent response of Covid, the central and state governments are clueless about the different strategies that will need to adapt to deal with covid orphans due to the magnitude of the tragedy. Case in point, in Himachal, former Congress minister and former Member of the Legislative Assembly from Nagrota Bagwan, Gurmukh Singh Bali took an initiative announcing that the local unit of the Congress party would adopt all children, who have been orphaned due to the pandemic in Kangra district, prompting the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to announce that the state government will fulfill its duty to extend full help to these children. The government will provide Rs 2,500 per month to each of them under Foster Care Scheme till they turn 18. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced it would give ₹ 2,500 every month to children whose parents have died of Covid. The children will get the money till they turn 25, and their education will also be paid by the Delhi government. The pitfall of such an exercise could be children living under government care for long periods and the efficiency of governmental care is highly doubtful. The children could still feel like an orphan.
On 21st May 2021, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi tweeted a letter written by his mother and Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide free education to children orphaned by COVID-19 "Children are amongst the worst hit by Covid trauma, many having lost their parents to the dreadful situation. Congress President makes an important suggestion to safeguard their future & provide them free education at NVs. It's high time GOI listened! "I feel that as a nation, we owe it to them to give them hope for a robust future after the unimaginable tragedy that has befallen them," Mrs. Gandhi said in the letter.
The scope of adoption was greatly narrowed down by the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, which provided for the adoption of Hindu children by the adoptive parents belonging to Hinduism. Adoption rules in India have become stricter over the decades. Earlier in the 1950-90s decades, anyone could adopt children without bureaucratic and legal tangles, but the laws today are governed by the stricter Juvenile Justice Act of 2015.
While there still could be genuine people who are posting on social media to adopt the Covid Orphans as they have the means and resources to support children in their family, the danger could be of scamsters and gangs operating on social media to farcically adopt children to exploit them. Childless couples and single parents who are on the waiting list across various adoption centers for months and years are also anxiously watching the developments if Covid could speed up the process to add bundles of joy to their family. Add to that, if the children spend too much time in childcare centers, they could be disillusioned or demotivated, waiting for their new adopted parents.
As a start to look for solutions, one was suggested by Sonia Gandhi in her letter where she invoked her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who conceptualized the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) that focussed on talented children in rural areas and provided them education comparable to the best in a residential school system, JNV started as an experiment in 1986 and added it to the National Policy on Education that same year.
Another solution is to speed up the current adoption system where the waiting period of deserving parents is reduced from months and years to perhaps 60 to 90 days, of course after proper verifications and checks and balances. The gap time, between genetic parents and adoptive parents, should be reduced drastically for the young souls so that they do not feel lonely during the lag period. Fast-track childcare centers must be constituted and can be mandated to speed up the adoption process responsibly.
Another solution is for wealthy Indians, cinema actors, celebrities, cricketers, and businessmen who can easily afford to add a child to their family must come forward to adopt Covid Orphans through the process and rules laid out by the Government to set an example in society to follow in adopting victims of a global calamity. As the civil society and the government debate on the future of the Covid Orphans, whichever way the government conceptualizes the final policy, it must accommodate provisions and rules with kids gloves as the little hearts are involved who are the future of India.
Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer, and he is writing an upcoming book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

Obituary: HRH Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh

OBITUARY: HRH DUKE OF EDINBURGH PRINCE PHILIP

By Dhiraj Kumar

Yesterday on the 17th of April 2021, the longest-serving British consort monarch, His Royal Highness Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, prince consort and husband of the Queen of England, Elizabeth II was laid to eternal rest at the Windsor Palace in the United Kingdom. One of the most famous personalities in world history, the demise of Prince Philip has drawn condolences from across the globe with world leaders sharing their grief. Though he passed away months short of his 100th birthday in June at the ripe age of 99, he lived a full life and was mentally and physically active till the end days.
Prince Philip was an outsider to the British monarchy when he married Elizabeth Alexandra Mary in 1947 and continued to be so his entire life. He was the insider in the Windsor dynasty who was also the original outsider. Born a royal as Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark on 10th June 1921 as the fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, his mother delivered him a dining table on the island of Corfu, Greece. He was considered more royal with his background than Queen Elizabeth was. In the Greek-Turkish war of 1922, Prince Philip’s uncle Constantine I was forced to abdicate his throne and there was a threat to the life of young Philip when he was arrested by the revolutionary forces. Owing to the arbitrary actions of the military government, Prince Philip was banished from Greece for life in December 1922. Since his birth he faced great upheaval in his life, when he was forced to move out of Greece as a baby, his sisters married German princes and his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in an asylum. Philip eventually joined the school at Gordonstoun from where he completed his studies in 1939. He then joined the Naval academy at Dartmouth in the United Kingdom. This set a stage for his life as a navy man which would become his first love. In 1942, during the peak of World War 2, he became the first lieutenant of HMS Wallace, during the invasion of Sicily, in July 1943, as second in command of Wallace, he saved his ship from a night bomber attack. Prince Philip would remain passionate about the navy and his naval career throughout his life. It’s a lesser-known fact that Prince Philip also had an India connect. His uncle was the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, or Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India. It was Louis who asked Philip to escort young Elizabeth Mary in Dartmouth in 1939 which started a lifelong romance between them. It is believed Elizabeth fell in love with the dashing Prince Philip in these early meetings. Neither of them had any idea how their life was going to change forever.
In the summer of 1946, 7 years after their first meeting, Philip requested King George VI for approval to marry his daughter. The King granted them permission, and the wedding was solemnized on 20th November 1947 in Westminister Abbey, London barely three months after Indian independence. The critical task of providing a male heir to the British Kingdom was fulfilled with the birth of Prince Charles in 1948 and the birth of a daughter in Princess Anne in 1950 which completed the small family. Philip and Elizabeth spent the most carefree days of their life for five years. They had four children Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, and Princess Anne. It was on a royal tour in Kenya, that news broke headlines all over the world, that her father had passed away. The death of King George VI in 1952 necessitated the ascent of Elizabeth to the British throne thereby leaving Prince Philip two steps behind. The accession of his wife to the throne of the United Kingdom created various problems for Philip. He was not allowed to attach his surname to his children nor was he allowed to pursue his naval career he was so passionate about. He was often overruled in the decisions related to the royal family due to his uneven relationship with his mother-in-law. The frustration of dealing with the initial years of Elizabeth as Queen wore heavily on Philip. The birth of his son also relegated him to a lesser position as per the constitution. He became a chained bird in the golden cage. It is to his credit that he accepted his destiny and the one job he had at hand- to stand with the Queen and support her in her reign. In later years, the Queen generously issued an order declaring that Mountbatten- Windsor would be the surname of her and her husband's male-line descendants and gave precedence to the Duke of Edinburgh in next to her in official functions, thereby giving him the official importance, he was struggling for.
Philip was an alpha male who was deeply interested in sports, flying, high seas, environment, care for endangered species and culture. Philip also took initiatives for wildlife conservation. He wanted to create a difference in the monarchy and added a human element to his work. Apart from helping the Queen and standing rock solid in all her years as monarch, Philip maintained his own identity through various initiatives and programs. He is solely responsible for televising the crowning of Queen Elizabeth in 1952 which directly took royal functions to the drawing rooms of the British people through the BBC. He was the sounding board to the Queen as sovereign and head of the Commonwealth of 52 countries and her true advisor even as she dealt with 15 Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and Britain went through various turmoil from 1952 to 2021. Since 1952, Prince Philip has completed a staggering 22,219 royal engagements on his own, apart from the ones taken with the Queen.
The Duke of Edinburgh visited India in 1959, 1961, 1983, 1997, four out of which he accompanied Queen Elizabeth to India in 1961, 1983, and 1997. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru received Prince Philip for his first visit to India in January 1959. Prince Philip visited Jamshedpur on 3rd February 1959 and stayed for two days to visit Tata Steel and Tata Motors factories. He was accompanied by J.R.D. Tata and Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, a member of the Planning Commission when he met workers and managers of both the factories and visited the Jubilee Park which was inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru a year earlier in 1958.
Over the years, Philip had become gaffe-prone, commenting on issues that created a stir. While some say, he was not being shrewd, but personally, Philip always spoke his mind on what he believed and never cared for political correctness. In an interview, he said, “I can’t change my way of reacting to things.”
With failing health and a “pre-existing heart condition”, Philip retired from royal duties in 2016 and was also involved in a car crash (he loved driving his Land Rover) where two people were injured. He had been in and out of hospital recently and the family hoped he would be home to celebrate his 100th birthday.
On 9th April 2021, Buckingham Palace announced “It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. Further announcements will be made in due course. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”
Prince Charles who is now the patriarch of the Windsor family bid farewell to his father saying, “He was a much loved and appreciated figure and apart from anything else, I can imagine, he would be so deeply touched by the number of other people here and elsewhere around the world and the Commonwealth, who also I think, share our loss and our sorrow."
Philip will be known as the longest-serving supporting actor to any British monarch in history with his unwavering strength and support behind the throne. He stood with and behind the Queen and weathered out each storm that they faced in their life, be it the death of his uncle Louis Mountbatten in an IRA bomb blast, or the issue of the marriage and separation of Charles and Diana, the divorces of his children, death of Princess Diana, the BREXIT, or as recent as the Harry-Meghan Markle bombshell interview to Oprah Winfrey.
The world today stands in support and solidarity to Queen Elizabeth II, who has returned to work, in her hour of grief as she will sorely miss Prince Philip who was the biggest pillar of support in their 73 years of a blissful marriage and her reign as Queen of England for 69 years.

Dhiraj Kumar is an author and writer, and he is writing an upcoming book. He can be reached at dhiraj.rao@gmail.com or on Twitter @authordhiraj.

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