Notes of Nagesh

♦️ #GlobalInnovationIndex2022  〰️#India ranks 40 Far behind China, UAE, Malaysia, Turkey India's gross expenditure on research and development (R&D) is one of the lowest in the world, with just $43 per capita, according to NITI Aayog's India Innovation Index 2021 . This shows that India needs to boost this expenditure and at least be on a par with its BRICS or ASEAN counterparts like Russia ($285), Brazil ($173), and Malaysia ($293), the government think tank says. India's gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of GDP has been consistent and hovered around 0.7% for about a decade . This is even lower than Brazil (1.16%), South Africa (0.83%) and others

MOHAN GURUSWAMY:  By all accounts Narendra Modi is a pretty isolated figure. Few know who he meets and whose advice he solicits. Unlike the previous Prime Minister, who created many councils of advisers and gave many of the country’s gainfully under-employed titles and platforms to be seen on and not necessarily heard, Narendra Modi has given away little except to a few cronies from his Gujarat days. Dr Manmohan Singh had a surfeit of advice with it flowing from as many as eight sector specific councils of which he himself headed as many as six, including one each on skill development, industry, nutrition, wildlife and unique identification. These councils rarely met. The one on nutrition, for instance, met only once in the UPA’s 10 years. Apart from these, Dr Singh had 35 ministerial committees — empowered groups of ministers (EGoMs) and groups of ministers (GoMs) — to whom he tossed decisions, more often not to be taken. The only council that met regularly was the Council on Trad...

Mohan Guruswamy The sheer crudity of the NRI “bulldozer” rally in the armpit town of Edison NJ reminded me of something I wrote in 2010. Its about how they think and behave in the USA. They are increasingly shrill, noisy and have little interest in their chosen country. All of us have many in our families who are now NRIs in America. Without exception they think that being better off economically than most of us who choose to be here or chose to come back, they know more. My favorite one is a liquor shop owner who spends hours haranguing me on how to set right India? It featured this very same town of Edison, a perennial hotspot of Indian-American racism and parochialism.  On July 2, 2010 Joel Stein wrote a witty and perfectly appropriate column in TIME Magazine “My Own Private India” about a town called Edison in New Jersey.  Stein was thoroughly excoriated as racist and anti-Indian by people purporting to represent the Indian community in the USA. Stein wilted un...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/world/asia/india-democracy.html?smid=fb-share It is India’s credentials as the world’s largest democracy that Mr. Modi rides on the global stage. But at home, diplomats, analysts and activists say, Mr. Modi’s government is undertaking a project to remake India’s democracy unlike any in its 75 years of independence — stifling dissent, sidelining civilian institutions and making minorities second-class citizens. While past Indian leaders exploited religious divisions and weaponized institutions to stay in power, Mr. Modi’s focus has been more fundamental: a systematic consolidation of power, achieved not through dramatic power grabs but through more subtle and lasting means, aimed at imprinting a majoritarian Hindu ideology on India’s constitutionally secular democracy. Mr. Modi has bent to his will the courts, the news media, the legislature and civil society — “referee” institutions that guarded India’s democracy in a region of military coups and entr...

Source : http://blog.juggernaut.in/south-vs-north-the-next-great-indian-divide/ Courtesy : JUGGERNAUT  September 9, 2022  BY TEAM JUGGERNAUT South India and North India are farther apart than we realise. Whether it’s education or quality of life, as the disparity grows, so does the chasm between us. This could be the next great Indian crisis. Nilakantan RS argues why –  * South India: A Different Country* Consider a child born in India. This child is, firstly, far less likely to be born in south India than in north India, given the former’s lower rates of population growth. But let’s assume the child is born in the south. She is far less likely to die in the first year of her life given the lower infant mortality rates in south India compared to the rest of India. She is more likely to get vaccinated against diseases than the average Indian newborn, less likely to lose her mother during childbirth, more likely to get childcare services and receive better nutrition. She i...

Adani firms are new entrants to public markets. They ended up with a similar bunch of shareholders when they were spun off from Adani Enterprises, the flagship. * As to who they are and the source of their funds, those questions should be asked of the offshore managers themselves, he said.* Trouble is, Bloomberg News couldn't find contact details for Markus Beat Dangel, Anna Luzia Von Senger Burger, and Alastair Guggenbuchi-Even and Yonca Even Guggenbuehl, the names Chaudhary gave in parliament as persons responsible for Cresta, Albula and APMS, respectively. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' "Offshore Leaks Database" lists *Beat Dangel as a judicial representative and director at Malta-based Lascaris Capital Fund and Prime Pan-Asia Investment Fund. The ICIJ website has a Swiss address for Beat Dangel .* Guggenbuchi-Even is the chief executive and partner at Zurich-based Monterosa Group , according to his LinkedIn profile. When Indian opposit...

FARMERS   DEMANDS -2024-ELECTIONS To All  Political Parties .   1. Will your party after 2024 consider enhancing the status of Union Agriculture Minister by designating as Deputy Prime Minster, with Separate Union Agriculture Budget? 2. What steps Will your party after 2024 initiate to increase farmers income on par with Government employees to provide economic equity. 3. Will your party after 2024 consider removing GST on agricultural inputs of fertilizer, pesticides, tractors, harvesters so as to help reduce production cost of? 4. Will your party after 2024 consider   Linking MANREGA with famers contribution of @ 50 to enable timely harvesting. 2. Will Alliance Government   consider providing diesel @ 50 % subsidized for all farm activities? 5. Will your party after 2024 consider empower State Governments to get foreign technologies for increase productivity and nutrition 6.  Will your party after 2024 consider to allow State Governmen...

Book :  https://amzn.eu/d/hzZSWdw Compare two children – one born in north India, the other in the south. The child from south India is far less likely to die in the first year of her life or lose her mother during childbirth.She will also receive better nutrition, go to school and stay in school longer; she is more likely to attend college and secure employment that pays her more. This child will also go on to have fewer children, who in turn will be healthier and more educated than her. In a nutshell, the average child born in south India will live a healthier, wealthier, more secure life than one born in north India. * Why is south India doing so much better than the north? And what does that mean? In this superbly argued book, data scientist Nilakantan RS shows us how and why the southern states are outperforming the rest of the country and its consequences in an increasingly centralized India. He reveals how south India deals with a particularly tough s...

1. *Albert Abid* was a Jewish valet of the Nizam, who owned a shop, the surrounding area, now the main shopping area, was named *Abids* after him. 2. *Afzalgunj* gets it's name from the 5th Nizam Afzal Ud Daulah, who gifted the land to grain merchants here.  Now a bustling market place, it is home to State Central Library which has around 17,000 manuscripts dating back to ancient, medieval times. 3. *Alwal* gets it's name from the Alwars (Vaishnavite Devotees) who settled down here, most of them were devoteess of Shri Venkateswara.  The place is famous for it's old (150+ years old) Venkateswara Temple & noted director Shyam Benegal was a resident of this area. 4. *Ameerpet* gets it's name from Amir Ali, a jagirdar of the Nizam who was gifted the land here.  The Nizamia Observatory here was the 3rd such to be setup in India. 5. *Barkas* in the Old City area gets it's name from the fact that it housed military barracks of the Nizam.  This place was where the Arab ...

In 1888, when Narayana Guru visited Aruvippuram, a village located in the southern district of Thiruvananthapuram, he picked up a rock from the Neyyar River and consecrated it as Lord Shiva. People also started worshipping it with flowers, camphor, and incense sticks. As word spread, a group of agitated Brahmins reached the spot the next day and shouted at Narayana Guru. He replied, “This is not a Brahmin Shiva, but an Ezhava Shiva.” The Brahmins were left stunned and tongue-tied. Back in the day, only Brahmins were allowed to install idols. Guru was the first non-Brahmin in Kerala to consecrate a Shiva idol. He went on to consecrate many such Shiva idols and temples across Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Then, Guru moved to Sivagiri in Varkala and set up a school for children from lower strata of society. It is also the place where Guru’s samadhi (tomb) is situated. Thousands of devotees visit the pilgrimage centre every year . Read more.  https://theprint.in/theprint-profile/narayana-guru...

Birsa Munda (15 November 1875 – 9 June 1900) was an Adivasi freedom fighter, religious leader, and folk hero who belonged to the Munda tribe. He spearheaded a tribal religious millenarian movement that arose in the Bengal Presidency (now Jharkhand) in the late 19th century, during the British Raj, thereby making him an important figure in the history of the Indian independence movement. The revolt mainly concentrated in the Munda belt of Khunti, Tamar, Sarwada and Bandgaon. Birsa received his education in Salga under the guidance of his teacher Jaipal Nag. Later, Birsa converted into a Christian to join the German Mission School but soon dropped out after finding out that Britishers were aiming to convert tribals to Christianity through education. After dropping out of school, Birsa Munda created a faith called ‘Birsait’. Members of the Munda community soon started joining the faith which in turn became a challenge for the British conversion activities. The cause of the Munda revolt wa...

https://youtu.be/Efa9fUnH_-Q  ♦️Was Hyderabad integrated with India, or was it liberated?  ♦️Was the inclusion of princely states into India one man's work?  ♦️Is the integration of India complete? Could it have been more effective? Has it delivered the sought for results?  ♦️If our founding values are changed, will we survive as a nation? What more needs to be done?  _Parakala Prabhakar and Mohan Guruswamy discuss these questions about The Unification of India in this episode of_ *Deccan Dialogues.* 🔴WATCH :  https://youtu.be/Efa9fUnH_-Q

India is second only to sub-saharan Africa in how many poor children live in the country, states a joint report released by UNICEF and International Labour Organization (ILO) on Wednesday. India consists of 30.3 per cent of extremely poor children living across the world. Close to 9.97 crore children in India live in poverty-stricken conditions. 6 Facts About Child Poverty in India India accounts for 30% of all children living in extreme global poverty.  South Asia accounts for  36% of children in extreme poverty , but India alone covers almost all of this. India is home to the greatest number of impoverished children on Earth. Children are more likely to live in extreme poverty than adults.  A recent study that the World Bank Group and UNICEF conducted, titled “Ending Extreme Poverty: A Focus on Children,” found that extreme poverty disproportionately affects children. Despite making up only a third of the studied population, children accounted for half of the extremely ...

— From Federation versus Freedom, 1939 Ambedkar was an unsparing critic of M.K. Gandhi. He ended a book on whether India should be a federation or a unitary state with an acerbic comparison between what he called the Age of Ranade and the Age of Gandhi. Some of his warnings remain relevant even today. “We are standing today at the point of time where the old age ends and the new begins. The old age was the age of Ranade, Agarkar, Tilak, Gokhale, Wachha, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, Surendranath Bannerjee. The new age is the age of Mr. Gandhi and this generation is said to be Gandhi generation. As one who knows something of the old age and also something of the new I see some very definite marks of difference between the two. The type of leadership has undergone a profound change. In the age of Ranade the leaders struggled to modernize India. In the age of Gandhi the leaders are making her a living specimen of antiquity. In the age of Ranade leaders depended upon experience as a corrective me...

Credit : Radhika Sunderraj  Facebook post The year was 1555.  Portuguese colonial power was at its peak in the 1500’s.  They destroyed Zamorins of Calicut.  Defeated the Sultan of Bijapur.  Took away Daman from the Sultan of Gujarat.   Established a colony in Mylapore, Captured Bombay and made Goa their headquarters.  And while they were at it, pretty much unchallenged, they even ruined the ancient Kapaleeswarar Temple to build a Church over it. Their next target, the super profitable port of Mangalore. Their only bad luck, just 14 kilometers south of Mangalore was the small settlement of Ullal- ruled then by a feisty 30 year old woman - RANI ABBAKKA CHOWTA. Initially, they took her lightly and sent a few boats and soldiers to capture and bring her back to Goa - Those boats never came back. Shocked and enraged, they sent a huge fleet of ships this time, under the command of much celebrated Admiral Dom Álvaro da Silveira - The admiral soon returned, bad...

Business & Government  Business loves unemployment. Because there are so many people chasing a small number of jobs, the bargaining power of the job-providers is high. Consequently, wages are depressed. Wage increases are paltry. For example, agricultural wages increased by less than 3 per cent in 2021-22 despite the inflation rate being higher. The average monthly income of an agricultural family in India was Rs 10,213 in 2019 (source: ES 2021-22), hardly sufficient for 4-5 members for food, shelter, clothing, education, healthcare and leisure. Since the bargaining power of the employed — or even the self-employed — is weak, the average income of a family rises only marginally. In a period of low growth or recession, the situation becomes worse for the average family. Read more

Political Trends in Eastern Africa – China Promotes its Model of Peace and Security Architecture September 16, 2022 0 If the US keeps true to its commitments to Africa, China will have tough time to attain its security goals. In case the American objective is limited to containing China,  it is unlikely to go much farther.   by Prasad Nallapati Africa is the new bride in the town that all major powers are vying to impress and influence her.   The US and Europe had long enjoyed preeminence, but they are fast losing out to China and Russia, due to their indifferent and unhelpful attitude toward the continent. China’s successful inroad has shaken them up to make matching efforts, but Africans are skeptical of their long-term commitment. Africa’s  population  is younger and fast growing than any other part of the world, with the median age being 19.  They are highly aspirational and enterprising. Africa is estimated to have the highest rate of entrepreneur...

Kanthalloor Sala: The 1000-year-old university in Trivandrum you may not have heard of https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W5aFRKnkpaY&feature=share 'Ennittum Kanthalloor ', a documentary on the age-old university at Valiyasala, gives a peek into the rich cultural and educational past. A still from the documentary Did you know that hundreds of years ago, there existed a university in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala which taught 64 different branches of knowledge? Did you know that even atheism featured as one of the subjects? Or that students were believed to have arrived even from Sri Lanka to attend classes at the university? Valiyasala in Thiruvananthapuram is cloaked in history; it is where an educational centre of repute existed known as the 'Kanthalloor Sala'. Ennittum Kanthalloor, a documentary on the age-old university at Valiyasala, gives you a peek into the rich cultural and educational past of the varsity. Over 1,000 years old, Kanthalloor Shala is also called the N...

MOHAN GURUSWAMY: One of the bitter ironies of life is that greatest acts of heroism and valor mostly happen when the odds are hopeless and death and defeat inevitable. Throughout history nations have always glorified such episodes in their ballads and poems, by honoring the heroes and commemorating the event. It is the common perception of these few and far in between episodes in a people’s history that forge a sense of nationhood. Why else would we celebrate the deaths of a Prithviraj Chauhan or a Tipu Sultan? Or a Porus or a Shivaji who battled great armies with little more than a handful of brave comrades and immense courage? Of course we rejoice in the triumphs of an Ashoka or Chandragupta or even an Akbar but that is about greatness and not heroism.  Even if it is true that the end of history is at hand, we can be sure that the annals of heroism will never cease being written. However endless these may be, the heroic stand of C Company of the 13 Kumaon at Rezang La in 18 Novem...

In 1951 Shapurji Pallonji, the founder, bankrolled the production of the movie ‘Anarkali’ and it continues to ring the cash register. ‘Anarkali’ vastly augmented the SP fortunes and paved the way to its great riches. Today it owns 18.9% of Tata Sons. Unfortunately, the Mistry family cannot freely monetise the stake in Tata Sons owing to a fractious fallout with Ratan Tata, on the back of Cyrus' unceremonious exit as the chairman of Tata Sons in 2016, and a subsequent adverse Supreme Court (SC) ruling. Since Tata Sons is an unlisted private limited company, the challenge for the Mistrys is that they cannot sell the stake without the approval of Tata Sons and, second, Tatas have valued their holding at ₹70,000-80,000 crore ($10 billion), significantly lower than ₹1.75 lakh crore ($21.8 billion) sought by the Mistrys, back in 2020. The problem is compounded by the Tatas rejecting the Mistrys' proposal to swap the holding for equivalent shares in listed Tata entities, even as the S...

. Today is my father's 24th death anniversary. He died in 1998 and at age eighty eight. He was a civil servant in the truest sense. He was always very civil and served his government and his people with dedication and courage. NK Guruswamy was educated at Wesley High School, Secunderabad and then Nizam College, Hyderabad and the Madras Christian College. He joined the Nizam's government in 1933 and was posted in the Gond populated areas of Khammam district and the lived in places with exotic names like Burghumpahad, Palwancha and Yellandu. For the next six years he travelled in the densely forested tracts on horseback and my motehr followed in a bullock cart. It was his collection of books on the Gonds and other Adivasi people of the Deccan which got me interested in these people, and are still with me. In 1939, my father joined the Army and served in Arakan, New Delhi and Quetta. He rose to become a Lt.Colonel. In 1947 he rejoined the Nizam's Gover...

Mohan Guruswamy  Here is a later and fuller post of mine.  Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada Prasad  By Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada Prasad Opinions  Thursday 21 February 2019 Today the president of the BJP Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Amit Shah asserted : “Kashmir remained a problem only because of Jawaharlal Nehru. Sardar Patel tackled Hyderabad and it is now respectfully part of India, but Jawaharlal Nehru tackled Kashmir and it continues to be a problem... Kashmir is simmering because of Jawaharlal Nehru. Had Patel been the prime minister at the time, Kashmir would not have remained a problem...” Does the president of the BJP Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Amit Shah, even know that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was in favour of Partition, and further, was OK with ALL of Kashmir going to Pakistan ?  As early as November 1946, Sardar Patel had accepted the idea of Partition, whereas Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad reluctantly accepted the idea of P...