CATEGORIES

The Pandemic's Wake-Up Call

While India’s problem-solving approach helped battle covid, it needs to boost its spending on health, including r&d, prioritise key disease threats, set up a public health cadre, strengthen care delivery at the primary level and use tech as a force multiplier

THE LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY

TO ACCELERATE THE PROCESS, WHAT IS NEEDED IS AN AGGRESSIVE APPROACH TO VACCINE DELIVERY, A FISCAL STIMULUS, MORE CREDIT AND LARGE-SCALE PRIVATISATION OF PUBLIC SECTOR UNDERTAKINGS

THE MAKE OR BREAK YEAR

HOW NARENDRA MODI NEGOTIATES 2021 WILL DETERMINE WHETHER HE EMERGES AS A STATEMAN OR FINDS RE-ELECTION IN 2024 DIFFICULT. FOR THE OPPOSITION, IT MAY BE A LAST CHANCE TO GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER TO STOP THE MODI JUGGERNAUT

THE CURSE AND THE PROMISE

BE IT THE PANDEMIC OR CLIMATE CHANGE-INDUCED WEATHER DISASTERS, NATURE HAS SPOKEN. THERE IS NO TIME LEFT, WE NEED TO FIX WHAT IS BROKEN

NO SILVER BULLETS FOR DEFENCE

THE CONVERGENCE OF CHALLENGES IN THE YEAR OF THE PANDEMIC MEANS NEW DELHI WILL NEED TO REASSESS ITS MILITARY MODERNISATION, REFOCUS BUDGETS AND ACCELERATE DEFENCE REFORMS THAT HAVE BEEN STUCK FOR OVER TWO DECADES

A TIME FOR RESETS, A TIME FOR DIALOGUE

IN 2020, THE STREETS INTUITIVELY OWNED THE CONSTITUTION. IT IS NOW ALSO TIME FOR THE RULERS TO BE LIMITED BY IT

SUNNIER GROWTH WITH A CHANCE OF VOLATILITY

THE PANDEMIC WILL LEAVE SOME ECONOMIC SCARS GLOBALLY; GIVEN THE UNCERTAINTY IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AND POLITY, OUR POLICYMAKERS MUST AVOID DOGMA AND REMAIN AGILE

INDIA'S GREATEST OPPORTUNITY

THE “GREAT GAME” IN THE 21ST CENTURY IS AN ECONOMIC CONTEST. INDIA NEEDS TO OPEN UP TO GLOBAL COMPETITION—IT LEADS TO SHORT-TERM CREATIVE DESTRUCTION, BUT LONG-TERM ECONOMIC STRENGTH

DIGITAL DELIVERANCE

WHEN NORMAL MEDIA ACTIVITY CAME TO A HALT, A NEW GENERATION OF ENTREPRENEURS AND CREATIVES TOOK OVER, BUT THE OPPORTUNITIES OF DIGITAL GROWTH COULD BE DESTROYED BY THOUGHTLESS REGULATION

Covid-19 - The Great Disruptor

It took a tiny virus to bring the world to a grinding halt, changing life as we knew it. Covid-19 single-handedly turned 2020 into a year that never was

A Life And Death Struggle

Grossly inadequate to begin with, India’s healthcare infrastructure was ill-prepared for a crisis of Covid’s magnitude. Yet, it rose to the challenge and made the best of limited resources

THE NEW WORK ORDER

Organisations have had to rethink and restrategise to ride out the pandemic and prepare for a new era of working

THE EVERYDAY APOCALYPSE

Social confinement spurred a new way of living. Suddenly, home was where you both worked and played and technology became our bridge to the world outside

WIN SOME, LOSE SOME

Even as pandemic and the lockdown wreaked havoc on film theatres, OTT platforms proved a boon for both actors and audiences

THE BIG LEAP BACKWARD

India is one of the worst-hit economies among global majors. The ordeal can become an opportunity, but only if there is a fundamental overhaul of business processes

IN THE HOT SEAT

NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, 61 Despite the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus, the challenge of reviving the economy is still daunting

SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

The Covid-induced lockdown ravaged the education system with schools closing down and online learning nowhere near effective

FIRM AND RESOLUTE

NARENDRA MODI, 70 The Indian prime minister ably steered the country through the unprecedented health and economic challenge of the Covid pandemic, while grappling with Chinese aggression on the LAC

DISPLACED, DISTRESSED

The lockdown hit some 200 million migrant workers the hardest, pushing them into unemployment and a long journey back home

Drumbeats Of Destiny

An event, a tragedy, failure or deprivation... anything can shape or alter the course of our lives. On the occasion of our 45th anniversary, we approach 45 achievers to find out what set them on their particular life journey and how they used it to achieve success in their chosen path

“I started writing to escape the monotony…… of working in an international bank. It was not meant to launch me on an author's career”

His first novel, Five Point Someone, became a runaway hit in 2004. Since then, the IIT Delhi and IIM-A graduate’s subsequent books have also become bestsellers, even leading to blockbuster film adaptations like 3 Idiots and 2 States

“I worked among the poor families in Kalighat... ...along with Mother Teresa's missionaries and it was an eye-opening experience for me”

His work as a social volunteer shaped his thinking and led him to confront the rampant corruption in the government. He quit the IRS and formed an NGO to address people’s grievances. That laid the foundation for the Aam Aadmi Party

“‘That motor garage is no place for you'... ...is what Bimalda said to me. Nobody had spoken to me like that before. He was like a father. He extended his hand and picked me up—it transformed my life”

This momentous encounter with director Bimal Roy led the lyricist—and later filmmaker—to give up his job as a mechanic, give songwriting for films a chance, and imbue it with a sensorial richness never seen before

“The first time I went into a 10-day silence... ...it was life-altering for me. To find oneself, one has to find silence”

The result was the spiritual leader’s ‘Sudarshan Kriya’, which went on to become the signature course at his Art of Living Foundation which operates in close to 155 countries and has over 370 million followers

“The turning point in my and Reliance's life was when India embraced economic reforms... ...Liberalisation freed the suppressed entrepreneurial energies in our country and gave us the hum kisi se kam nahin spirit”

The 1991 reforms enabled Mukesh to fulfill his father Dhirubhai Ambani’s dream of Indians building world-class and world-scale businesses. Mukesh went on to build Reliance Industries Limited into India’s most valued company, at $172 billion, and made it a market leader in several key sectors

“There was nobody to run the business... ...and so I had to leave Stanford without completing my degree”

Diversifying the family business his father founded away from cooking oil and soap, Premji entered the information technology sector in 1982. Today, Wipro is an IT powerhouse, India’s third-largest software company

“My professor advised me to join MIT......but I was too ashamed to tell him I did not know about the college. A friend told me it was the Madras Institute of Technology”

His decision to join MIT led him to study aerospace engineering and subsequently join ISRO where he made a mark in launch vehicle systems and rose to become chairman

“I inherited my father's responsibilities, not privileges… …but what I learnt from him was how to interact with people and deal with their problems effectively and efficiently”

When his father Biju Patnaik died in 1997, Naveen gave up his jet-setting life and shifted base from Delhi to Odisha to take on his political mantle. As chief minister since 2000, he has brought about an economic and social transformation of the state

“I had no choice but to grow up fast… …when my father died. At the age of 28, I had to run the businesses he had built”

As chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, he has transformed the conglomerate from a $2 billion business into a multinational behemoth spanning 36 countries and businesses as diverse as textiles, cement, chemicals, retail and telecom with an annual revenue of $46 billion

Gearing Up For The Vaccine

Since the very beginning of the pandemic, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has taken on a very hands-on role in the state’s Covid management efforts