Random Musings, Ramblings and such on Theory and Like

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Decoding Western Thinking on Indian Democratic Standards

- March 12, 2021

Sometime back in the Rajya Sabha, a MP from AAP raised the issue of a Swedish think tank downgrading the status of Indian democracy. The Vice President who was in the Chair was contemptuous and did not allow any further comments or references to the topic. Now that the V-Dem has released its report calling India an ‘elected autocracy’ for whatever that means. A couple of weeks back, Freedom House a think tank funded by the US government downgraded Indian democracy from free to ‘partly free’. The discussions over these reports seem to be expected lines and have provided enough fodder to all suiting their political preferences. To the critics, the report seem to reinforce their perception that Modi is a dictator for whatever that means to them. To the supporters, it is the colored perception of the West that refuses to recognizes the ground realities in India. India is free and well flourishing democracy. The elections have been held at regular intervals. The governments have c

Global Interventions: Hard and Soft

- March 11, 2021

Indian foreign policy and by extension strategic studies have obsessed on defensive multilateral global engagement and an emphasis on peace rather than national interests as a primary objective. It is undeniable that when it came to the crux, India intervened decisively in East Pakistan in 1971 leading to formation of Bangladesh. India has intervened in Sri Lanka more than once with mixed effects as it did in Maldives. Indian intelligence has been actively involved in foiling attempts to overthrow governments in the Vanilla Islands like Mauritius and Seychelles. Yet India has been hesitant of interventions as tool of foreign policy in contrast to the Western world. India has remained passive to calls for intervention;. Few years ago when President Nasheed was dispossessed in Maldives, India remained silent than intervening on his behalf. At some point, there is a feeling that India’s moral standing might take a beating if India is seen to enhance and demonstrate military credentials.

Westernization of Japan: A Myth?

- March 08, 2021

There is a school of thought that believes Westernization to be something that will get adopted in the pursuit of materialism in the Orient. They believe that it is the sacred duty of the West and its manifestations in Christianity, capitalism democracy et al to be adopted across the world. The Orient, to borrow from Marx was steeped in primitive society and needed to be fashioned into a modern society underpinned by materialist pursuits. The Marxian society might not have been formed yet, there is a growing perception of increased westernization in the Orient. In India, the process of Westernization might have started through the Brahmo Samaj movement which was essentially an Abrahamic reshaping of Hindu thoughts. There were many movements, perhaps Indian equivalent of renaissance that did seek to create a departure from the Indian thought process into something western shaped Indic philosophy. Yet, India considerably remains indigenous for which many arguments have been advanced. I

The Message from Gujarat

- February 25, 2021

Local body election results tend to favour the ruling party in the state and prima facie, the results from Gujarat seem to reinforce that. One witnessed something similar in Punjab where the ruling Congress swept the polls with the other parties performing very badly and nearly wiped out. In Gujarat too, the ruling BJP has ensured it swept the urban body elections across all six corporations. It did so in resounding manner. The opposition was left to clutch some straws for hope. It is more remarkable given the BJP is ruling these corporations for nearly three decades. In 2016, there were some setbacks, the party barely managed to hold on a few of these corporations though the urban voter by and large stood with it even in those tough times, the Patidar agitation at its peak. The remarkable feature of the Gujarat polls is not merely in the BJP sweeping the stakes. It is the changes that seem to be occurring in the landscape of the political opposition in the state. this changing

Seth Godin and the Laggard

- February 23, 2021

Seth Godin has once again come up with provocative post complete with calculations. The post (available here ) is on laggards. He terms it the opportunity of laggards and suggests the only solution to deal with laggards would be to bring them up rather than bring up the averages. It is normal to find people obsessed with averages. Averages are pulled down by laggards. Eugenics might suggest an extreme step to eliminate laggards. There are many others who advocate laggards being brought up to the standard of the average. The bell curve does exist, yet it’s skewness needs to be smoothened at its lower tail. Increasing the upper bounds will not seemingly solve the problem, the only mechanism as Godin seems to put forth is bringing up the laggards. \ His examples are very interesting. He uses the example of the road, party laden with dirt, the rest a smooth highway. His argument as his calculations suggest is not about building a vehicle that drives faster on the highway but developi

One Crore Vaccinations- What Next?

- February 19, 2021

It has taken 35 days for India to reach one crore vaccination mark as it battles the pandemic induced by the Chinese virus. It indicates roughly three lakh vaccines being administered every day. The second round of vaccinations are underway. The coverage of frontline workers is expanding and hope to achieve 90%+ mark in a couple of weeks or so. It is perhaps with anticipation that the Indian population looks to expanding the vaccination drive to the next phase of the elderly and the vulnerable. There was no doubt given the frontline workers have performed over the last year or so in combating the pandemic, they needed to be administered the vaccine at first priority. The doctors and other healthcare workers are needed to combat with preparedness in case of any eventuality. There is further no doubt that there needed to be observed on the effects of the vaccine in terms of immediate side effects or so. It would need some time before the health care authorities could unearth some insig

Counter-Cultures- Some Notes

- February 18, 2021

The recent arrest of activists on grounds of anti-India activities does portend a disturbing signal. The signal is about the activists engaging in anti-India acts and perhaps treating them as anti-establishment or anti-government acts. There is a difference between anti-government and anti-country. Yet there is a very little distinction in the minds of these activists as they seek to move past that line however thick it might be into a realm of anti-national. In quite a number of cases, it is evident, there is a political thought that is behind the line of thinking. There are egged on political ideologies to combat the existing government and the establishment on a number of grounds and seek to foster disunity into the country. An instance of the same was the JNU protests and the chants of Tukde Tukde Bharat. This was overtly political and the activists knew of their intentions. But what is surprising in recent times, is activists from overtly non-political areas like environmentalis

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