GLOBAL INDIAN | EXCLUSIVE STORIES

An Indian man from an immigrant family of silk traders in Kenya recalls his first moments in Bombay – Scroll.in

This article first appeared in Scroll.In on October 4, 2022 As I walked from the ramp onto solid ground, it was as if my feet were standing on a lifetime of stories: my heritage, the soil in which my family tree had taken root and grown. It was 1964, three years before our move to London, and I had just made a very different journey; stepping off a ship into another world. Back then, Mumbai was still Bombay, a bustling port full of noise and energy. I gazed wide-eyed at the magnificent Gateway of India near the famous Taj Hotel, places I had only heard of or seen in photos. But the thing which made me audibly gasp was greater than the splendour of any bricks and mortar. The people. The people all looked like me.The feeling of belonging was overwhelming. So, this is how it feels to fit in! I’d had no idea. It is still difficult to put it into words, the intense emotion of those first steps, entering my country of origin, the sense of coming home. No longer did I feel different. Instead, I felt I could walk freely without fear. To this day, every visit to India makes the same unique and dramatic impression on me.

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UNESCO recognition of Durga Puja a big feat. But it was no easy journey for India – ThePrint

This article first appeared in ThePrint on October 3, 2022 India is a land of festivals that celebrate and manifest its rich culture and diverse traditions. In the Hindu month of Ashwin, or September-October in the Gregorian calendar, we celebrate the Sharad Navratri, popularly known as Durga Puja in East India. The festival involves worshipping the feminine spirit, which manifests itself in many forms. Durga Puja is the homecoming of goddess Durga from the sacred mount Kailash to her maternal home. It encompasses qualities such as strength, transformation, beauty, compassion, and power, reflected in each individual and even the universe. Considering the many traditional values, workers, artists and sentiments involved, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has finally included Kolkata’s famed Durga Puja in its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list (ICH). While the government sent its proposal in 2019, it was only accepted in December 2021.

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Why ageing citizenry is a challenge across the globe, particularly for India – The Economic Times

(This article first appeared in The Economic Times on September 24, 2022)

• From 5% of the population in 1950, senior citizens were close to 10% of the population by 2016, and this is estimated to rise to 19% by 2050, when about one in five Indians will be 60 years or older, according to the UN, which declared October 1 as International Day of Older Persons...

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Navigating uncertainty: The way forward for the Indian economy – The Indian Express

(This article first appeared in The Indian Express on September 30, 2022)

• With global central banks battling persistent inflationary pressures, nurturing India’s domestic demand will require a fine balancing act, especially as global growth slows down. The foreign exchange reserves accumulated because of the ultra-loose global monetary policies are being utilised as the same global monetary policies now rapidly reverse. Recalling the impossible trinity, defending any levels of the exchange rate on a sustained basis, given the global context, could unduly impinge on monetary policy...

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Permanent Membership of the UNSC is another story

This article first appeared in The Hindu on September 28, 2022 There is a buzz in India about the prospects of the country becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. India's External Affairs Minister has been actively canvassing for the country's candidature, meeting his counterparts from several countries. He has repeated the call, made often in the past, for a text-based negotiation on what has been euphemestically referred to as the reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), i.e. negotiation on a written document outlining the proposed reform instead of just holding forth verbally. The five permanent members of the UNSC - China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States - constitute what is the last, most exclusive club in international relations. All other clubs have been breached. Until a quarter century ago, the nuclear weapon had five members, the same as the P-5. India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel have since joined the club. The P-5 could do nothing to stop the latter countries from forcing themselves into membership of the nuclear club. But the permanent membership of the Security Council is another story...

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The other side of life in the 5th largest economy: Deccan Chronicle

(This article first appeared in Deccan Chronicle on September 27, 2022)

• The jubilation over India’s GDP outstripping Britain’s is a reminder that Indians often take pride in records that should rightly be ignored or even sometimes treated as a matter of national shame. The quality of Indian life is exposed not by a tycoon or two strutting on the world stage but by India’s fall from 131st to 132nd among 191 countries in the UN Development Programme’s latest Human Development Index...

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