By all accounts Britain and Europe are in a holy mess and things will only get worse with winter. US is no better. But there is next to no coverage in Indian media - whereas if India sneezes Western media goes hysterical with front page reports, Op-Eds, TV interviews. Why. 2/n 2/n My analysis:
1) Very few Indian media houses have full time senior correspondents in the West;
2) Those who are there are more busy with diaspora news, Embassy PR and amplifying what local media writes about India; Don’t want to offend host country government;
3/n

The problem with old school politicians (even the younger ones) is #Modi thinks far ahead of them - while they are still stuck in a 60s and 70s construct. That’s why despite opposition #Modi keeps winning. #Agnipath is the latest example. #AgnipathRecruitmentScheme 2/n 2/n Concept of lifetime employment is out of date. A youngster who doesn’t have a job will not turn down an opportunity in a good organisation where he can learn on the job just bcoz it isn’t for life. Key is value-addition thru skills and competency development #Agnipath 3/n

It's been one year of the #MKStalinGovernment in Recall there was some scepticism. My sense is people are generally satisfied with the level of governance and I would personally rate its performance better than most other states that got new governments in May 2021. #TamilNadu #MKStalinGovernment 2/n Although one has not seen any "big-bang" moves, the key has been his appointing competent and efficient bureaucrats around him (believe that was the Karunanidhi model too) and @ptrmadurai is an asset providing him the bandwidth for politics. #TamilNadu 3/n

PM #Modi adopting a sombre and measured cadence ..warming up slowly. #PMinLokSabha 2/n Now coming to #Corona ....for the first time speaking aggressively on the pandemic after nearly two years. He was waiting for this day. Rebuttal is best served cold. #NarendraModi #PMinLokSabha 3/n

.@ShyamalMajumdar Never expected @bsindia to be so shoddy on #FactCheck (that too in an editorial - not op-Ed). #MadhyaPradesh have been following vaccine holidays since May (see 👇). Besides, as a business daily BS ought to know basic principles Ops Management. This obsession 2/n to diss the #VaccineDrive even by respectable newspapers is baffling. Be that as it may 1) Inventory Management is neither usual nor a sin. It is routine practice in any ops 2) It is common sense that when supply chain is shifted from one channel to another (in this case 3/n

#VaccinationUpdate: 7.18 lakhs till 11.00 AM. And for those, like me, keeping a keen eye on #MadhyaPradesh - it has crossed 1.4 lakhs already, #Maharashtra at 73 k and #UttarPradesh 50 k. Keep it up India. #VaccinationDrive #VaccinationUpdate at 12 PM - All India 16.38 lakhs; #MadhyaPradesh 3.02 lakhs; #Maharashtra 1.67 lakhs. #VaccinationDrive #vaccination

Caught a little of the #BengalClub Annual Panel Discussion on FB. Political posturing apart - irony dies a thousand deaths when the @CPIM_WESTBENGAL panellist @BikashranjanBh4 calls #AbbasSiddiqui “secular” and says the youth of #WestBengal are again turning towards the left 2/n 2/n which world do they live in and what do they think Bengali youth smoke these days. @DrAMSinghvi was, of course most balanced (with @INCIndia having no stakes in #WestBengal anymore - @adhirrcinc pls note) except for his carping on ED, CBI and farm laws but impressed by 3/n

.@nandu79 To me the appointment of @pbmehta as VC itself looks problematic in hindsight. Did he join #AshokaUniversity as a scholar or activist? Were the TOR clearly agreed with the trustees @PramathSinha? Can Mehta's articles be considered academic work or extra-curricular? 2/n

https://twitter.com/nandu79/status/1373101057115451393

2/n if the latter, a distinction needed to be made. If it was the latter and so important to him - it is only fair that he steps down and follows his calling either as an independent voice or from an appropriate forum, not as the VC of #AshokaUniversity. This is a fundamental 3/n

Hold @pbmehta in high regard. Also @PramathSinha founder trustee and many others at @AshokaUniv. Don’t know the circumstances of his quitting. But conversely, as many are saying, cancel culture of “non left” voices at liberal institutions a reality globally 2/n #PratapBhanuMehta 2/n Even in India how many Right leaning voices will find even a lateral entry into into left dominated academia, think tanks, NGOs (local and global) and media?That’s why the angst against a handful of institutions(state and private) that provide platform to non-left voices 3/n

Have been watching the evolution of @DilipGhoshBJP with admiration. Over the last four years he has really come of age and emerged as a leader to reckon with in #WestBengal vindicating his selection as @BJP4Bengal President. #ModiInBengal #Haldia #WestBengalElection2021 2/n PM #NarendraModi takes stage - referring to the #UttarakhandAvalanche drawing a link between the source of the Ganga in #Uttarakhand and its meeting with the sea near #Haldia. #ModiInBengal #WestBengalElection2021

Problem is the blind polarisation among the upper-crust - who refuse to see anything good in #Modi. Many had forwarded to me the clip of an MP criticising #PMCaresFund hailing her as the new start in parliamentarian. Same people not interested in #NirmalaSitharaman’s rebuttal. 2/n Similarly, not a word of condemnation for the pandemonium caused in #RajyaSabha (despite televised footage) by the opposition but all sympathies with suspended MPs protesting in the laws of Parliament House and lamenting the “death of democracy”. 3/n

Among other things, #PranabMukherjee was said to have the memory of an elephant. Remembered the minutest detail from years ago.

https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1300412575641862144

Remember an interview of Arun Shourie by @ShekharGupta in #WalkTheTalk when UPA2 was floundering. He told SG that - had it not been for #PranabMukherjee who was the only person who had credibility within the Congress and with the Opposition the government would have collapsed.

Right now DR @APanagariya speaking at @BenCham1833 Leadership Series on the impact of the pandemic #ArvindPanagariya #BengalChamber 2/n Dr #ArvindPanagariya endorses the government's decision not to front-end the "demand stimulus" - because with labour not being there and enterprises shut - Supply Curve being vertical - it wouldn't have worked. #COVID19India #BengalChamber

In an atmosphere of doom and gloom, refreshing to hear industry leaders and bankers at the launch of Akhil Gupta's "Some Sizes Fit All" sound more optimistic than our economists and commentariat @bhanshireen @rajivmemani @Kalpnamorparia @kakunakhate #books #economy #IndianEconomy Talking of a SWOT #KakuNakhate of @BankofAmerica thinks India is far better geo-politically today - though she sounded a word of caution on the situation at the borders. #KalpanaMorparia of @jpmorgan appeared to be bullish on banking reforms and RBI interventions. @CNBCTV18Live

Interesting to hear @PereraJehanpc in @iicdelhi’s Neighbourhood First - on #SriLanka’s recent election and return of the Rajapaksas. He appeared to be optimistic about the new government with 2/3 majority - for the very same reasons Indian liberals are unhappy with #Modi 2.0 2/n On #SriLanka-India relationship, @SultanaGulbin i
expects a more pragmatic approach from both the #mahindarajapaksa government and #Modi-2.0 on all fronts - political, military, tourism and cultural but not, perhaps, economic - notwithstanding the “blow hot, blow cold” past.

PM #NarendraModi remembers #SriAurobindo - whose birth anniversary is also celebrate 15th August - at the start of his #IndependenceDay speech. #PMModiOnIndependenceDay As expectedly - PM Modi begins in his speech the #CoronaWarriors but also expresses his sympathies for families who have lost relatives to #Covid19

Excellent exposition of the "Migrant Labour and the Politics of Life" by Ranabir Samaddar of Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group and Dr @VinayshilG in @iicdelhi Webinar. Dr Samaddar drew heavily from Michel Foucault. #COVID19 #migrantworkers #migrants 2/n #migrantworkers Of course, there was no hiding Ranabir Samaddar's left orientation - but while castigating "neo-liberalism" - he made some very strong points about the 'politics of life' that afflict the problem of #migrants 3/n

Dilip Puri of @ISHOfficial makes a pitch for #hospitality sector people (both current and aspirants) to go back to school. The hotel industry has been the alma-mater for the entire luxury service sector. They will come out stronger when the pandemic ends. @ndcnn @businessline

https://twitter.com/HiOnMoon/status/1286612227500326912

All panelists agree that like any other industry - #hospitality industry will have to undertake major reengineering of the business model. JB Singh of @InterGlobe_IGE makes a case for regulatory reforms. But, like everything other sector it is "complicated" @ndcnn @businessline

My own position on #CAA2019 has been - it is sound in principle (read @pratimbose article👇) and nothing wrong constitutionally (as explained by none other than Harish Salve). But, I anticipate serious issues in implementation. Therefore, other than the #NorthEast #CABProtests /2

https://twitter.com/SandipGhose/status/1206192549511065600

#CABPolitics e.g. in #Assam where it is a live issue (but religion agnostic as they are against all immigrants changing the demographics of the region) for the rest of India it is largely an academic issue. Therefore, #CABProtests in the name of “secularism” ill-conceived 3/n