NB Blogs

Apathy, pure and simple! Cloudbursts can’t be stopped but casualties and resulting havoc can be minimised. Speedy help can be ensured to be there in place just in time when lives matter. Every time we regularise unauthorised construction or colonies, when we decide to extend the so-called basic needs like electricity and drinking water, never is the construction itself tested for quality which it had never adhered to, in the first place, not having been subjected to any building norms. Are we always brushing aside the root issue? Are we only cementing tragedies, promoting cosmetic surgeries, to become unmitigated disasters in the future. All the constructions along river banks, elsewhere, in numerous developments even in urban landscapes, there are tragedies waiting to be knocked on their doors, in times of excessive rains and other natural catastrophe. In every JJ colony, in numerous 1000 plus colonies either regularised or waiting to be regularised before every next assembly election

Earn More Foreign Exchange, Create a Million New Jobs, Invent New Economic Streams. Balancing receipts against revenues is basic stuff, as much to the economy as a whole, as it is for individual balance sheets, of people and corporates. Amidst the challenges that all economies face, India’s task is no different. Inbound tourism is the lowest hanging fruit, remains  unexploited, waiting to be tapped, like never before in the history of our country! Why now, you might ask? What is so special about NOW? 1. We have got the tourism ‘plant’ right, for the first time since Independence. The base had to be domestic, the inbound was to the creamy layer. For a country the size of India, the structure was always wrong, upside down, with foreign tourists being the base, for the first few decades. Historically, Indian travel was all about pilgrimages, on holidays we tended to stay with friends and family, preferring the inimitable holdall, to carry with us. The right comparison for Indian tourism i

It was heartbreak in Paris, for 1.4 billion people resting their hopes on just a hundred plus athletes. That in itself was most unfair. Imagine, the billion plus hopes resting on the shoulders of just that few! It was a pressure that few could have managed. But our athletes did, and with fair success, though we were off the mark by a whisker as many times as we won our medals. We could have doubled, had luck been on our side. Getting the 4th position in four other events; when we could have done better in each of them. Our big iconic hope, Neeraj Chopra, after a first big throw, just could not pull himself back. All our hopes in badminton and table tennis were dashed to the ground. It was tough going in hockey, but our players showed grit in holding onto the bronze, largely owing to the heroism of our goalkeeper, who stood like a rock, guarding the goalposts. Not to mention the 100 grams overweight of  Vinesh Phogat, that best exemplifies the heartbreak. Full marks to the few, the hund