In search of a conservative Indian: We are drowned today by the shrill noises from Hindu nationalists and left secularists
Times of India | 31 October 2019

The precipitous decline of Congress worries many Indians who believe that choice and a responsible opposition are important. Democracies elsewhere offer a choice between liberals and conservatives through a two-party system. Liberals prefer modernity while conservatives favour tradition and continuity; liberals want rapid change, conservatives prefer it to be gradual. Conservatives tend to be more nationalistic, religious and market oriented; liberals are more secular and oriented to social welfare.

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Can India grow during the day when the govt is looking?
Livemint | 30 September 2019

Gurgaon was a sleepy backwater with no local government, no industry, no railway line, and impoverished farmers, but in 2012, it has become the epitome of India's rise. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

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सुशासन से भारत में घुलेंगे-मिलेंगे कश्मीरी
Dainik Bhaskar (Hindi) | 16 September 2019

हमारा सामना इस असुविधाजनक सत्य से है कि हिंदुत्व व कश्मीरियत सहित हर राष्ट्रवाद काल्पनिक ह

कश्मीर के राजनीतिक दर्जेमें किए बदलाव से कश्मीरियों में गुस्सा, भय, अलगाव और आत्म-सम्मान खोने की भावना है। कई लोगों ने कश्मीरियत को पहुंची चोट को कानूनी और ऐतिहासिक दृष्टिकोण से देखने की कोशिश की है लेकिन, जरूरत राष्ट्रीय पहचान की दार्शनिक समझ की है। खासतौर पर कश्मीरियों और भारतीयों को इस तथ्य को समझना होगा कि राष्ट्रीय और क्षेत्रीय पहचानें काल्पनिक हैं। हिंदुत्व और कश्मीरियत दोनों आविष्कृत अवधारणाएं हैं। इससे कुछ रोष शांत करने में मदद मिलेगी।

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Is Milton Friedman dead? Not quite. Individual social responsibility, not corporate social responsibility, must be the mantra
Times of India | 05 September 2019

Capitalism has been on the defensive ever since the global financial crisis of 2007-08. Young people in the West have been turning away from the market system because of widening inequality, revulsion against high CEO salaries, and deepening distrust of business. By 2016, half of America between 18 and 29 years of age rejected capitalism in a Harvard study (with one-third supporting socialism.) Two years later, a Gallup poll in 2018 confirmed these findings when only 45% in the same age group expressed a positive opinion of capitalism.

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Contra Hindutva, Kashmiriyat: How consent works in a world of invented nations and fictional nationalisms
Times of India | 28 August 2019

The recent change in the political status of Kashmir has deeply wounded the Kashmiris. There is anger, fear, alienation and loss of self-respect. Many have addressed the hurt to Kashmiriyat from a legal or historical perspective. But what is needed is a deeper appreciation of the fact that national and regional identities are imagined creations. Both Hindutva and Kashmiriyat are invented. The only real 'consent of the people' is the desire of a person to live in a country.

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Stage: ‘Mira,’ La Mama's Indian Play
New York Times | 31 July 2019
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You never know what is going to turn up at La Mama, but at the very least it will be interesting, and at the most it will be truly exciting. It is fascinating that right now in London a La Mama troupe is getting extremely respectful reviews in the West End. What hope would it have on Broadway?

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गरीबी हटाओ की नहीं, अमीरी लाओ की जरूरत
Dainik Bhaskar (Hindi) | 31 July 2019

कुछ दिनों पहले रविवार की रात एक टीवी शो में एंकर ने प्रधानमंत्री नरेन्द्र मोदी के 5 लाख करोड़ डॉलर के जीडीपी के लक्ष्य का तिरस्कारपूर्व बार-बार उल्लेख किया। यह शो हमारे शहरों के दयनीय पर्यावरण पर था और एंकर का आशय आर्थिक प्रगति को बुरा बताने का नहीं था, लेकिन ऐसा ही सुनाई दे रहा था। जब इस ओर एंकर का ध्यान आकर्षित किया गया तो बचाव में उन्होंने कहा कि भारत की आर्थिक वृद्धि तो होनी चाहिए पर पर्यावरण की जिम्मेदारी के साथ। इससे कोई असहमत नहीं हो सकता पर दर्शकों में आर्थिक वृद्धि के फायदों को लेकर अनिश्चतता पैदा हो गई होगी।

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Bold vision of Modi 2.0: Moving from ‘garibi hatao’ to ‘amiri lao’ depends on embedding audacious new mindsets
Times of India | 18 July 2019

On Sunday night the anchor of a TV show sneeringly and repeatedly referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's $5 trillion GDP target. The show was on the poor state of our cities and the well-meaning anchor didn't mean to demonise economic growth even though it came out sounding that way. When this was pointed out to her, she replied in her defence that India should grow but with responsibility to the environment. No one could disagree with that but the viewer was left unsure about the virtues of growth.

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हमें चाहिए असरदार राज और ताकतवर समाज
Dainik Bhaskar (Hindi) | 10 July 2019

नरेन्द्र मोदी के फिर चुने जाने के बाद धीरे-धीरेबढ़ती तानाशाही का भय फिर जताया जारहा है लेकिन, मुझे उलटी ही चिंता है। मुझे शक्तिशालीसे नहीं बल्कि कमजोर व बेअसर राज्य-व्यवस्था(राज) से डर लगता है। कमजोर राज्य-व्यवस्था मेंकमजोर संस्थान होते हैं, खासतौर पर कानून का कमजोरराज होता है, जिसे न्याय देने में दर्जनों साल लग जातेहैं और अदालतों में 3.3 करोड़ प्रकरण निलंबित रहतेहैं। यह कमजोरों को शक्तिशाली के खिलाफ संरक्षणनहीं देती और विधायिका के हर तीन में से एक सदस्यके आपराधिक रिकॉर्ड को बर्दाश्त कर लेती है। कमजोरराज्य-व्यवस्था लोगों के मन में निश्चिंतता के बजायअनिश्चितता पैदा करती है औ

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Strong state, strong society: The reforms India needs Prime Minister Narendra Modi to courageously undertake
Times of India | 03 June 2019

With the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fears are again being expressed of creeping authoritarianism in India. But i worry about the opposite problem. I do not fear a strong state but a weak and ineffective one. A weak state has frail institutions, especially a feeble rule of law that takes a dozen years to give justice and has 3.3 crore cases pending in the courts. A weak state does not protect the weak against the strong.

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