India First

Do We Need Aarogya Setu? As COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe over the last few months, governments across the world have had to absorb a flood of information from a 360° window, probably 24 hours a day, and have taken series of decisions to protect their nations’ populations from the dreaded infection. Among the many progressively enforced measures have been restrictions on travel, socialising, commuting, maintaining personal hygiene, and finally lockdowns in many countries. India was the first country to impose a nationwide lockdown, which has been extended twice, with some relaxation in rules being introduced in the second and third lockdowns. Even before the pandemic hit India, Government of India (GoI) has been severely attacked across the political spectrum and beyond for having let the economy go into a tailspin. Irrespective of whether the attacks were exaggerated or accurate, everyone will agree that the lockdown has dealt a body blow to the economy, even as one ne...

Can a Religious Leader Delivery as Chief Minister? On Sunday morning I was very surprised to hear of BJP’s choice for Chief Minister for UP. Honestly, I can’t recall any of Yogi Adityanath’s statements that contribute to his present negative image among urban Indians. At the same time, even for BJP supporters there is some negativity associated with our impression of him. One associates UP with social backwardness (to put it mildly), social divisions along religious lines (for those who love to hate BJP, let’s not forget the contribution of our “secular” parties in having achieved so), high crime rate, and I’m sure it’s pretty backward economically too. The govt of such a large and problem-ridden state would need to plan and perform along multiple dimensions for a decade before social and economic reforms begin to show. But parties are lucky to have more than five years! Why then, would a firebrand religious leader be chosen? He has no experience in administration. We can’t ...

Can't be an easy journey from Yogi to Chief Minister of India's largest, very complex state Politics divorced from sound economics is disastrous for society. At the same time, running a state or country like a corporate doesn't work in politics. Sound economic policies, along with appropriate (dynamic) social investment and even concessions, are inevitable in the journey of running a state or country. Little is known about Yogi Adityanath other than his trademark attire and provocative statements. Again, one could argue that this is known to urban India because this is what English media wants us to know about him! Still, the journey from one of 543 MPs even with five successful elections cannot be the same as Chief Minister of India's largest state, which comes with acute social problems, not to mention poor economic health. How will the Yogi perform? How will negative social factors be addressed? How will employment be addressed? Will he depend a lot on the Cen...