NB Blogs

We wish everyone in our family, our neighbourhood, our city, our country, the region and globally, each and everyone. A happy and healthy new year ahead! As we increasingly realise how we are becoming inter-dependent upon each other, every life matters, it is a common good we are chasing. Yet, we are daunted by the innumerable ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’, the uncertainty of triggers around us? Overall, we live on hope, in the benevolence of the gods we worship, as ultimately there can only be only ONE God. Let us hope we can give HIM a new common name, and worship him. Meanwhile, we look back at the year gone by, look at some of the signal milestones and pray for an all round better and happier new year. This last month has been nothing short of being explosive. Signalling an end to 2023, in a not too happy note. Too many events, issues, and rancour on the national scene. Gaali galoch was finding new levels, lower than ever before. And, if you thought once we had reached the nadir, there was a st

News on airline bilateral rights between nations always attracts attention. Given the ever-growing interest in travelling international, India remains one of the fastest growing originating markets globally. This is where the world’s single biggest aircraft orders are coming from, it is a most lucrative place to be. Why are bilateral rights important? They determine how many seats you can offer on any country-to-country basis. This determines finally the price of each ticket. Connectivity plays an important part in business and economy and commercial global play. The background: Indian carriers were not growing two decades back, our national carrier was limping, especially after the failed merger of Air India and Indian Airlines; its inability to service the purchase of newly ordered planes added to its woes. How would an Indian travel? European carriers did not have the appetite and it was the Middle Eastern airlines that looked for markets, they found one big one in their own backya

Justice Sanjay Krishan Kaul has been in the news lately, demitting office after a long and distinguished career, spanning over 40 years, both as a lawyer and a judge. He has given extensive interviews to mainline media, both print and online. Our conversation took almost 90 minutes, spanned across subjects and concerns, as we kept ourselves out of the complexities of the law. We were hard pressed for space, limiting this text to the basics of his opinion, on how India needs to move on. You have behind you a very, very distinguished career, both as an advocate and as a Chief Justice in several states, and then as Supreme Court second in command. Some learning out of all these years which you want to share, just top of the mind, two, three things which could be your and our learning? So, look I believe this is both the legal profession and the judiciary is something you have to really enjoy. That's how I say it, to be able to carry it on, maybe possible for most professions to be abl

News on airline bilateral rights between nations always attracts attention. Given the ever-growing interest in travelling international, India remains one of the fastest growing originating markets globally. This is where the world’s single biggest aircraft orders are coming from, it is a most lucrative place to be. Why are bilateral rights important? They determine how many seats you can offer on any country-to-country basis. This determines finally the price of each ticket. Connectivity plays an important part in business and economy and commercial global play. The background: Indian carriers were not growing two decades back, our national carrier was limping, especially after the failed merger of Air India and Indian Airlines; its inability to service the purchase of newly ordered planes added to its woes. How would an Indian travel? European carriers did not have the appetite and it was the Middle Eastern airlines that looked for markets, they found one big one in their own backyar

Mumbai grown, ‘Made in India’, now a global gold standard in visa outsourcing, VFS Global, which has been a trusted partner for the UK Government since 2003, has won the global contract for overseas UK visa and Citizenship services. This award is the latest in a long line of wins for the world’s leading visa, passport and citizen services provider. VFS Global becomes the service provider for all UK Visa and Citizenship Application Centres overseas – operating across 142 countries. Estimated to manage 3.8million applicants every year, VFS Global is now opening UK application centres in 84 new countries during 2024. New contract will also see significant investment in technology to improve the customer experience, accessibility and security. The UK contract is the sixth global contract won by VFS Global during 2023. During 2024, VFS Global will deploy 240 Visa and Citizenship Application Service (VCAS) Centres for the UK in 142 countries across Africa & Middle East, Americas, Austral

Awakening our Sensitivity towards Senior Citizens is the Need of the Hour. “India is at a peculiar stage in its demographic transition. The country is characterised by a bulge in its youth population, which is a window of opportunity to accelerate growth. However, a parallel phenomenon that requires equal attention is the rising senior citizen population,” Saurabh Garg, secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, has written in a newspaper article. Not too soon, not too late, for a subject that is increasingly occupying public space and attention. Senior living is becoming a growing concern, what with many a youngster going overseas, or settling in another city, with the size of the core family coming down, nuclear families as they existed in the past, is indeed becoming a thing of the past. According to Census 2011, the population of senior citizens was about 10.38 crores, or 8.6% of the total population. Saurbah Garg has pointed out that there is a Maintenance and Welfar

Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) has completed the renovation of the Taj Mahal hotel in Delhi. This iconic Mansingh Road property was recently in the eye of the storm witnessing a heady auction conducted by NDMC. IHCL retained the right to run the hotel in Lutyens' Delhi for another 33 years after a 2018 NDMC public auction for the property. It has since spent close to `250 crore in refurbishing the hotel that completes 45 years. Once won again, the Taj Group got down to some serious business, preferring not to shut it down, neither knocking it down, but refurbishing it one step at a time. Re-imagining it, like the group has been doing its entire portfolio! Not surprising the company turned out a profit exceeding 1000 crores last financial, a figure that had never been imagined before in the history of Indian hospitality. Today, the Taj Mansingh has been fully renovated, it has bounced back to the same levels of revenues and profits that were clocked earlier. And, this is despite the l

I wrote a piece for the social media, the day PRS Oberoi passed on at the age of 94. A life most well lived, his was an exceptional journey that is difficult to capture. Here is an extended reminiscing of his contribution to Oberoi Hotels, Indian travel and tourism and to all those whose lives he touched, in so many ways. A legend passed on, this historic 14th November morning. PRS rode over, like the proverbial colossus, on all that he surveyed, looked at, built, nurtured, he is one of the kinds who are recognised as legends in their lifetime! He was held in awe and reverence, his aura exuded energy and confidence – in his beliefs, his determination and his zero tolerance to shortcuts. He was unforgiving when people showed a lack of application; deep within him he had a heart of a child, striving to excel, never giving up in his relentless urge for excellence in all that he did. He little knew else; fastidious to every detail, including the styling of every menu printed at even the sm

It was that fateful day when the tunnel partially collapsed, with 41 construction workers trapped inside. The regular excavator machines were brought in, but with no success. Then came an auger machine to drill through the debris, to form a passage. This failed too, and a bigger machine was flown in. This machine made some headway, with some 9 metres of success. This hit a snag and then another machine was brought in. Drilling stopped and new solutions were thought of. Different approaches to dig, reach out, were devised. Pipes, visual cameras, some more drilling. Finally, rat-hole miners, a much-derided lot, came to the rescue, to manually drive home to the trapped 41. Outside, closer to the final hour, 41 ambulances were waiting. Family members of the trapped workers were waiting. So, was the world with bated breath. Non-stop television coverage, anxious enquiries from all sections of the society, it has been one common concern. Whether we will succeed, and when? Also, waiting was th