Tell us how your parents started the company and when did you decide to join it ?
MapMyIndia was started in 1995 by my parents. They are IIT Roorkee and BITS Pilani graduates. They believed that someday 80 per cent of all Indian data will have a location component to it, and digital maps will play an important role in our lives – whether individuals, businesses, Government or society. At that time, there were no digital maps available in India. Now people call them visionaries but at that time they were defamed, made fun of and called ‘crazy’. In that interregnum, they went walking, running and driving through millions of miles across the country, collecting and assembling data and saving it digitally. Since then, it's been their conviction, and mine too, that there are infinite utilities and cases of maps – whether it's food delivery, e-commerce, Government infrastructure planning or just our daily
From coming close to selling the company at one point to getting it listed in 2021 and then having been accredited and declared as an Indian Unicorn, it has been quite a leap forward. What happened in your favour in this interregnum?
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GOING INTO ELECTION MODE
AS KARNATAKA IS ALL SET FOR LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS IN MAY THIS YEAR, FACTORS LIKE THE DEMAND FOR RESERVATION, ANTI-INCUMBENCY AND VARIOUS OTHER CONTROVERSIES WILL MAKE THIS ELECTION QUITE INTERESTING
ISLAMIC NATION AT A CROSSROADS
AMID POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND MILITARY INTERVENTION, PAKISTAN IS GRIPPED BY ECONOMIC CRISIS WHICH IS FURTHER DETERIORATING: IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO WATCH HOW THIS ISLAMIC NATION OVERCOMES THE SITUATION
A GAME-CHANGER FOR INDIAN ECONOMY
THE DISCOVERY OF 5.9 MILLION TONNES OF LITHIUM DEPOSITS IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR WILL CHANGE INDIA’S FORTUNE AND ITS JOURNEY TOWARDS SELF-RELIANCE IN ENERGY. IT WILL ALSO CHANGE THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY’S EV SECTOR
REVIVALISM FOR TRANSFORMATION
SWAMI DAYANAND SARASWATI, A REMARKABLE EDUCATIONIST AND REFORMER, PLAYED A SEMINAL ROLE IN REMOVING ORTHODOXY AND OTHER SOCIAL ILLS PLAGUING THE HINDU SOCIETY. HE ALSO MADE EDUCATION ACCESSIBLE TO ALL
'PM MODI'S POLICIES BEHIND BJP'S ENTRY IN NAGALAND'
The entire North East is witnessing a change since the Modi Government came into office in 2014.
RESOLVE TO RECLAIM OUR TERRITORY
FEBRUARY 22 IS MARKED AS THE SANKALP DIWAS RESOLUTION DAY). IT REMINDS US OF THE RESOLVE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, THROUGH THEIR REPRESENTATIVES IN PARLIAMENT, TOOK TO RECLAIM THE TERRITORIES THAT WERE OCCUPIED THROUGH AGGRESSION IN 1948
WHAT'S COOKING?
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN IS NOT KNOWN TO OFTEN MEET FOREIGN LEADERS BELOW THE RANK OF HEAD OF GOVERNMENT, EVEN FOREIGN MINISTERS ARE RARELY GIVEN AUDIENCE. SO WHEN HE HAD AN HOUR-LONG TETE-A-TETE WITH INDIA’S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR AJIT DOVAL IN MOSCOW RECENTLY, IT CAUGHT THE WORLD’S ATTENTION
A WAY TO DELIVER JUSTICE
WHEN OUR CONSTITUTION MAKERS PROVIDED RESERVATION BENEFITS TO THE SCHEDULED TRIBES, THEY WANTED TO SAFEGUARD THE TRIBAL POPULATION WHILE ENSURING AMPLE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEM TO PROGRESS. UNFORTUNATELY, RAMPANT CONVERSION HAS CREATED A SITUATION WHERE THE CONVERTS ARE AVAILING DOUBLE BENEFITS WHEREAS TRIBALS WHO CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN THEIR FAITH ARE DEPRIVED OF THE OPPORTUNITIES MEANT FOR THEM
LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL PERSPECTIVE
THE ISSUE OF DELISTING IS BEING RAISED SINCE MANY DECADES. EVEN ATTEMPTS WERE MADE IN PARLIAMENT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS TO DELIVER JUSTICE TO THE TRIBAL COMMUNITY. THIS MATTER IS ALSO BEING HEARD IN VARIOUS COURTS
JUSTICE FOR JANJATI COMMUNITY
THE 'JANJATI GARJANA DELISTING RALLY' WAS ORGANISED IN BHOPAL, MADHYA PRADESH ON 10 FEBRUARY. THE RALLY WAS ATTENDED BY EMINENT PERSONALITIES FROM THE COMMUNITY. NOTABLY, SUCH RALLIES ARE BEING IN ORGANISED CONTINUOUSLY IN STATES WHICH HAVE SIGNIFICANT TRIBAL POPULATION SUCH AS MADHYA PRADESH, CHHATTISGARH, ARUNACHAL PRADESH AND ELSEWHERE IN THE NORTH EAST