Notes of Nagesh

  Was Tilak Really So Great? — S. M. Mushrif I.P.S. (Retired) Former Inspector General of Police Recently, on 1 August 2026, a grand event was organised in Pune on the occasion of Tilak Jayanti. The 'Lokmanya Tilak National Award,' given every year, was this year presented to the Prime Minister's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval by the hands of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and as always it received widespread publicity. Since 1983, this award has been given every year to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the country's progress, development, and national service. Among those who have received this award to date are S. M. Joshi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shripad Amrit Dange, Sam Pitroda, Manmohan Singh, T. N. Seshan, Pranab Mukherjee, Sudha Murthy, Narendra Modi, and others. The award is presented by some other prominent personality. Every year, without fail, this event is held on Tilak Jayanti and is given wide publicity across Maharashtra and th...

 

Life and legacy of Dr. Pushpa Mittra Bhargava (PMBB), the renowned scientist who founded the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). This is based on narration of a person who worked closely with him for decades, explains her motivation for writing his biography, highlighting his role in shaping modern biology in India while managing vast archival materials and personal diaries. Dr. Bhargava possessed an extraordinary international network, maintaining friendships with some of the world's most illustrious scientists. He knew 25 Nobel laureates , about half of whom he had built close associations with long before they received their Nobel prizes. His circle included giants of modern biology like Francis Crick, James Watson, Sydney Brenner, and César Milstein. He actively leveraged these global connections to bypass bureaucratic sluggishness and address major national crises in India: The Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984): When the disaster struck, India lacked m...

 By Chuppala Nagesh Bhushan The rebel in the lab coat What a cussed Indian biologist can teach institutions about beauty, dissent and the price of conformity WHEN India's Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) opened in Hyderabad, the country's press did not know quite what to make of it. Reporters accustomed to government buildings whose only reliable landmark was the smell of their toilets found themselves inside a building of glass, art and clean lines. They dubbed it "Zanadu" and sniffed that it looked suspiciously like a five-star hotel. Questions were duly asked in Parliament. Why should a state laboratory be draped in contemporary sculpture and architectural flourish? The man responsible, P.M. Bhargava, would have considered the outrage a compliment. A molecular biologist by training and an irritant to bureaucracy by vocation, Dr Bhargava spent a career arguing that the pursuit of truth and the pursuit of beauty were not separate projects but th...

  The Universalist Paradox Mohan Bhagwat's American sermon clashes with India's sectarian reality On 29 August 2026, a man who heads an organisation accused of fostering mob violence against minorities stood before 5,000 admirers inside Manhattan's Madison Square Garden and preached a gospel of universal oneness. Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), delivered a 42-minute address titled "Universal Oneness Celebration" that spoke of diversity celebrated, human dignity affirmed, and the irrelevance of creed. Outside, protesters burned the Indian flag, displayed effigies garlanded with shoes, and chanted "RSS Murdabad" — a contradiction so stark it nearly cancelled out the speech itself.   A Sermon and Its Shadow The occasion was billed as an interfaith dialogue, with 180 religious leaders from 30 countries reportedly assembled to witness Mr Bhagwat's embrace of pluralism. He told his audience that any Hindu who believ...

  The Democratic Street A Defence of Contentious Politics in Constitutional Republics Every constitutional republic is built on a founding tension: the pull between institutional stability and popular mobilisation. The standard theory of citizenship implies a one-way journey — from the street to the statute. Once a democratic framework exists, the argument goes, the raw energy of the people should be channelled through the refined instruments of the courtroom, the parliament, and the ballot box. Critics of "street politics" often reduce this to a stark choice between civilisation and chaos. To mount a serious defence of the street, however, one must first take the opposing case seriously — to argue it at its strongest before answering it. That is the purpose of what follows: a purva paksha , the classical method of stating an opponent's position with full force before contesting it. 1. The Case Against the Street: Confronting the "Mob Rule" Critique ...