GLOBAL INDIAN | EXCLUSIVE STORIES

Following a Folk Tale Through the Himalayas

This Article First Appeared In nytimes.com On March 21, 2023

In a high hamlet, a two-hour trek up a verdant slope beneath ice-clad Himalayan peaks, an argument erupted over a folk tale. Two brothers, Pralad Singh Dariyal, 60, and Hira Singh Dariyal, 77, heatedly debated which nearby village in the Johar Valley was once the home of the story’s heroine. Eventually agreeing on a few possible locations, Hira said that the story, which is sung as a ballad and which he remembered from childhood, was virtually unknown today among the area’s young people. “They’re the YouTube generation,” he explained with a shrug.

“No one even knows how to sing it anymore,” Pralad added.

The voice of Pralad’s wife, Sundari Devi, rang out from the kitchen into the courtyard, where I sat with the brothers and a couple of other people in front of clothing drying on a line and pieces of a butchered sheep drying on a neighbor’s stone-shingled roof. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she shouted. “Some people do remember how to sing it. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s not important.”

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Indian Americans Rapidly Climbing Political Ranks

This Article First Appeared In nytimes on Feb 27, 2023

In 2013, the House of Representatives had a single Indian American member. Fewer than 10 Indian Americans were serving in state legislatures. None had been elected to the Senate. None had run for president. Despite being one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, Americans of Indian descent were barely represented in politics.

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Naatu Naatu roars: How RRR used Hollywood feedback loop and social media for the Oscar win

This Article First Appeared In the Economic Times  What made RRR stand out amid the bigwigs? Well, a lot has to do with the hype around the film and the constant feedback loop created by social media...the Oscars are often a feedback loop where the initial response for a movie matters the most. If the movie has already made an impact on the minds of the viewer --both in regional and international markets -- then it gets noticed. However, there are certain rules, and the most important being the film should be screened in a commercial theatre in Los Angeles County for at least seven days.

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Why “Make in India” is attracting more foreign phone makers than Indian ones

This Article First Appeared In Theken.com On March 17, 2023 India’s ambitious Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile-phone manufacturing—launched with much fanfare in 2020—is failing to live up to one of its key promises. Three years on, domestic manufacturers are struggling to keep up with foreign competitors despite being given more lenient targets.

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Why Don’t We Try to Be India’s Most Respected Company?

This Article First Appeared In HBR On Nov 2011. He may not appear to be one, but N.R. Narayana Murthy is quite the contrarian. At a time when few Indians felt they could become entrepreneurs, he founded Infosys with just $1,000 in the bank. When no one believed that India could offer the world high-tech products, he dared to develop software services for export. In an era when conducting business ethically was virtually unheard of, he created a values-based corporation. Today, as public anger against rampant corruption in India boils over, Infosys faces a turning point, with Murthy stepping down as chairman. In this edited conversation with HBR’s Anand P. Raman, Murthy reflects on his tenure and explains that for companies to be financially successful and good, leaders must demonstrate that values matter at every turn, with every employee.

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Moving forward with a newer concept of Universal Health Care

This Article First Appeared In The Hindu On March 20, 2023. Do we believe in health as a basic human right, which India’s Constitution guarantees under right to life? In contrast, we believe in the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health: a certain totality of health to the realms of mental and social well-being and happiness beyond physical fitness, and an absence of disease and disability. This means that we cannot achieve health in its wider definition without addressing health determinants. This necessitates a need for an intersectoral convergence beyond medical and health departments such as women and child development, food and nutrition, agriculture and animal husbandry, civil supplies, rural water supply and sanitation, social welfare, tribal welfare, education, forestry.

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