The real problem with free electricity is the message it sends

Tamil Nadu’s announcement of 200 free units every two months for 1.46 crore households, at an additional cost of ₹1,730 crore annually, arrives at a strange moment in global energy politics. No, not because such welfare schemes are new to Indian politics. In fact, subsidised electricity has existed for decades across states, especially for agriculture…

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Special duty and Rahu Kalam

Amit Kumar Amit Kumar was trained as a Mechanical Engineer with specialization in thermal engineering from the University of Roorkee (now Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee) where he was awarded the University Gold Medal. Post his graduation, he decided to pursue a career in renewable energy, a novelty in the early eighties. He had retired…

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The age of e-leadership

The other day we were discussing  the falling standards of ‘Leadership’ world over . Strange personalities are ruling the planet . Elected by dubious means they manage to stay in power for long even when a large section of population dislikes them . Well ! there could be many reasons but to my mind the…

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With ChatGPT showing ads, GEO becomes the new reputation game

For years, digital advertising have followed a familiar script. Search engines show us the links and  social media platforms showed us feeds while brands fought for attention through keywords,  impressions, clicks and retargeting. The user knew in essence where the advertisement ended and  where the organic result began. With time, we got addicted to LLMs…

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Building India’s 21st century narrative arsenal

In today’s world, national security depends not only on weapons or technology  but on narrative control. The ability to tell one’s story clearly, credibly and quickly  defines modern power. For India, this means moving from reaction to readiness  in the information domain.  Strategic Communication as a Core Capability  Strategic communication is about aligning national will,…

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India corporate promoter groups – need for a rethink!

Study of India Corporate Business shows that Promoter Families still lead the majority of Business transactions (B to C) – in Values, Ownership, Linkages.  When you have such a clear Business advantage, it does become somewhat incumbent on these Promoter Families (large, medium, small) to do a rethink of their place, position, responsibilities in India…

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Global shocks and seed security; why India must strengthen IP now

The ongoing conflict in West Asia has triggered a sharp escalation in input costs across energy, packaging, and logistics, all of which are critical to the seed industry’s functioning. The first casualty of rising operational costs and increasing financial stress almost always is investment in research, which may help in sustaining margins in the short…

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