Service at the Crossroads: Part II

The Test of Our Times—Integrity, Power, and the Demands of Viksit Bharat If Part I is a reflection on what India’s civil services have been, Part II must confront what they are in danger of becoming—and what they must yet strive to be. For all their history and institutional depth, the civil services today standContinue reading “Service at the Crossroads: Part II”

Service at the Crossroads: Part I

The Idea of the Civil Service—From Steel Frame to Living Institution There are institutions that merely administer a nation, and there are those that, in quieter and less visible ways, help shape its destiny. India’s civil services have at their best, belonged to the latter category—an enduring presence through upheaval and change, lending continuity toContinue reading “Service at the Crossroads: Part I”

Is Bengaluru Decaying? A City at the Crossroads of Character

Bengaluru—once serenely known as India’s Garden City—is today hailed as the IT Capital of India, a pulsating nerve centre of the digital economy, flush with start-ups, unicorns, venture capital, and dreams coded in binary. But beneath this luminous façade lies a more sobering reality: a city caught in a slow but visible unravelling. One mustContinue reading “Is Bengaluru Decaying? A City at the Crossroads of Character”

A Living Document or a Weapon of Rhetoric?

Earlier this week, India celebrated the Constitution Day. She does so every year on November 26th, commemorating the adoption of one of the most progressive and comprehensive constitutions in the world. More a ritual than any meaningful discourse on the part of  government, and an occasion to assail the government for the opposition, this day, still marksContinue reading “A Living Document or a Weapon of Rhetoric?”