How government decisions are helping Reliance Jio monopolise the telecom sector
WERE IT not for the suits, sombre faces and plush chairs, the launch of Digital India would have had the aura of a pop concert. It was the first day of July in 2015, and thousands of people had filled the arena of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered, the crowd erupted with cheers. Before the presentations began in earnest, jumbotrons played a digital animation accompanied by heavy electronic music. Light— sometimes blue, sometimes yellow—bathed the stage. Modi himself sat at the centre of the onstage dais, flanked by the finance minister, Arun Jaitley, the electronics and information technology minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and a supporting cast of other officials.
Behind and just to the right of Modi, in the middle of a mostly out-of-view back row of businessmen, sat Mukesh Ambani. When it came time for these men to speak, Ambani—the richest man in India and the chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, India’s largest private company—went first. Referring to the event as “a momentous occasion in the history of modern India,” Ambani praised India’s leader. “India is fortunate to have a prime minister who not only paints a compelling and comprehensive vision but has the personal leadership and drive to convert his vision to reality,” he said. Modi, wearing a white button-down jacket, stared forward blankly. “Normally, industry moves faster than government, but with Digital India it is different,” Ambani said. “I have no hesitation in saying that government has moved faster.”
Bu hikaye The Caravan dergisinin February 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Caravan dergisinin February 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Mob Mentality
How the Modi government fuels a dangerous vigilantism
RIP TIDES
Shahidul Alam’s exploration of Bangladeshi photography and activism
Trickle-down Effect
Nepal–India tensions have advanced from the diplomatic level to the public sphere
Editor's Pick
ON 23 SEPTEMBER 1950, the diplomat Ralph Bunche, seen here addressing the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The first black Nobel laureate, Bunche was awarded the prize for his efforts in ending the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Shades of The Grey
A Pune bakery rejects the rigid binaries of everyday life / Gender
Scorched Hearths
A photographer-nurse recalls the Delhi violence
Licence to Kill
A photojournalist’s account of documenting the Delhi violence
CRIME AND PREJUDICE
The BJP and Delhi Police’s hand in the Delhi violence
Bled Dry
How India exploits health workers
The Bookshelf: The Man Who Learnt To Fly But Could Not Land
This 2013 novel, newly translated, follows the trajectory of its protagonist, KTN Kottoor.