GOVT. READIES PLAN FOR 25,000 CRORE NATIONAL 'WATERWAY GRID'
Th e Narendra Modi government has drawn up an ambitious 25,000-crore plan to create a national waterway grid linking Ganga, Brahmputra, Mahanadi and Godavari rivers. Th e plan is ready … We will soon move a formal proposal, a senior shipping ministry offi cial said, adding that the underlying objective is to enable water from […]
QUO WADIS, INDIA ?
Achhe Din Aane Waale Th ai, as per Modi’s ardent promise to the nation during that marathon election campaign the country went through just a couple of months ago, which fuelled expectations and hopes of a populace that has long been reeling under the pressure of a stagfl ationary phase of the Indian economy for […]
CHAIL A WALK IN THE CLOUDS
While in college, I had done a 7~8 hour group trek from Kasauli to Chail, as part of a youth leadership camp. Th e route was through the Dagshai hills. A few places I remember having passed were Lawrence School Sanawar, Kumarhatti and Solan. Th ough the trek was tiring, Chail’s quiet, verdant, mysterious aura […]
ICICI LAUNCHES TWO SPECIAL ACCOUNTS FOR NRIs
The largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has introduced two more products last month, under its savings accounts for NRIs with additional benefits thrown in. The two new categories, christened NRI Pro and NRI Premia, will offer premium benefits like reservation assistance for hotels, flight booking and access to golf courses, as also preferential rates […]
SINGHAM Returns COMPLETED
IN JUST 80 DAYS: ROHIT SHETY Rohit Shetty speaks to NRI Achievers about his latest movie SINGHAM RETURNS, which is yet another sequel to the mega-successful SINGHAM, in a free-wheeling interview given to Jyothi Venkatesh at Mumbai. How happy are you to be hailed as a successful director today in Bollywood ? To tell the […]
ACCHE DIN AANE WAALE HAIN …
Democracy has had it’s say, and India’s 1.3 Billion strong populace has had its way. The verdict has swept out an incumbent UPA-2 government led by the congress, and put a NDA government led by Narendra Damodardas Modi in its place, that too with an absolute majority. While a decimated UPA is ‘introspecting’ on it’s […]
REAL ESTATE Q&A
Starting with our last issue, we started this Q&A column on all matters pertaining to the purchase and sale of real estate in India, the extant laws that govern this, and numerous other related matters. Readers of NRI Achievers are invited to send in their queries, which will be answered by leading experts and entrepreneurs […]
THE MODI EFFECT
REALTY WARMING UP TO GOOD DAYS AHEAD Riding a positive sentiment generated by the hope of political stability brought in by Narendra Modi-led majority NDA government, the real estate sector that has been facing a slowdown for the last couple of years, looks up to ‘good days’ ahead. ‘Acche din aa rahe hain!’ says Vinod […]
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
SAARC AFFAIRS INDIA STYLE Starting this issue, we bring you a guest column that chooses to be irreverent and satirical at best, and takes a dig at powers that be, just for the sake of some healthy humour. Lampooning personalities and leaders is a genre that is part and parcel of evocative journalism, and we […]
TAJ MAHAL
THE FOREIGN CONNECTION On the 17th of June 1631, as Arjumand Banu Begum, aka Mumtaz Mahal, the most favourite wife and Empress Consort of the Mughal Emperor Badshah A’la Azad Abul Muzaffar Shahab ud- Din Mohammad Khurram, aka Shah Jahan died, the Mughal Court started planning for the grand burial of the late queen. She […]
JAGDISH SEWHANI A NRI WHO CAME TO CAMPAIGN FOR MODI
The run-up to the recently concluded General Elections saw a vast horde of mostly tech-savvy NRIs, businessmen, technocrats and others flocking to the homeland to campaign for those parties thay connected with mentally, philosophically and politically. Most notably, large numbers of NRIs participated in the campaigning, in large part handling the backroom operations, new media […]
NEIGHBOURSPEAK
NEW DAWN FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION ? A mere 10 days after the results of the longest polls in Indian electoral history were announced and pundits were still absorbing the paradigm change that has happened in Indian politics, the new government pulls off a diplomatic coup of sorts even before assuming office, which sends all the […]
TAKING THE PAST INTO THE FUTURE
Aman Nath, writer, historian, conservator, antique collector, art curator, archivist, hotelier, pioneer, socialite … Aman is famous for his e orts in bringing back to life the glory of the Neemrana Fort Palace from its woeful near-ruin status, and then going on to renovate and restore many other heritage properties as ‘non-hotels’. NRI Achievers sought […]
CAN MODI REBOOT INDIA?
<p>Moot points really, only history can provide meaningful answers to such questions. Crystal gazing is best done in hindsight. Right at this point of time, all we know and all we need to know is that the 2014 parliamentary elections have catapulted Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into power with a thumping […]
NRI ACHIEVERS ENABLES A DIALOGUE
NRI Achievers grasped the opportunity of the recently concluded elections and the landslide win of the BJP, which has garnered a full majority on the floor of the Lok Sabha, to organise a panel discussion centered on the topic of the ‘Importance of Social Equality in the Making of New India’ (Bharat ke Navnirman mein […]
Swastika in Common Culture
When famous Bollywood actor Amir Khan said ‘All is Well’, I was wondering, how come such a beautiful and powerful line was not discovered earlier. Then one day, when I was explaining the symbols on mosques and temples to some college students, I pondered over the name “Swastika”. A little more research and I found […]
Looking to other Shores Elections & Diaspora Participation
There is a 10 Million strong constituency of untapped Indian voters – roughly half the population of Delhi – that political parties have been scrambling to attract ahead of India’s national elections. The group has no regional base, no particular vested interest, but in some areas, the parties hope, it could influence the outcome of […]
Accountability & Political Spending
It is a well known fact that several hundreds of crores of rupees are spent by political parties in canvassing for their candidates in each election. And the figures are well shrouded in the mists of obfuscation and opacity, despite the several reforms that have been initiated and the systems that have been put in […]