7 Comments

Great piece. Fan of yours, Pranay.

Blaming colonial vestiges and romanticising India's Hindu mythological past as a source of scientific and developmental wisdom is indeed our intellectual disability. It is pulling us back and is often used as a tool of distraction by our political masters from the actual developmental challenges and failures of the government.

Very well thought-through ideas on solving the devolution of money. Creating the right incentives such as - better debt management and intra-state devolution as principles to determine the share of the funds is fundamentally incentivising better governance practices in states.

Maruti's story seems like fiction given how difficult it was to run a successful enterprise let alone have a foreign partner with decision-making powers.

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Thanks for your kindness, Gautam!

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Sep 10, 2023Liked by Pranay Kotasthane

Enjoyed this, thank you. Three things come to mind:

1. Inability of ordinary people to question the mainstream nationalist narrative without being seen as unpatriotic

2. Getting ones house in order before sending rockets and shuttles into space

3. Taking stock of where we are and moving forward in good faith with open minds and open hearts

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Appreciate #1 and #3.

Beg to differ on #2. Sending satellites since 80s helped us to gain strategic independence during war/conflict times. India does not have to rely on satellite based intelligence from 'friendly' nations.

So with due diligence and prioritization, a nation may have to send rockets/shuttles even when poverty is rampant.

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"Only birth can conquer death―the birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new.”

This is the take away from this episode. Tragedy is in the times we live in no one is prepared to accept this statement.

Some times it appears when you are not sure of your abilities in the present you hark back to the past glory. It is easy and convenient to blame some one else for your present failures. How is that the past glory is not translating in to present day achievements inspite of the freedom we enjoy? A little pause is enough to realise that the past is no guarantee for the present success. You need a different level of descipline, commitment and work ethic to get recognition. It is for each one of us to introspect whether as a nation we can measure up to this requirement.

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The Bharat FTW section is brilliantly written, as good a piece I can remember reading. Been reading you guys for a long time. Just finished your book as well.

Recently started listening to Puliyabazi although I struggle to follow Hindi. Congratulations on the 200th episode.

More power to you.

Using the FC devolution formula to nudge states towards better debt management is an interesting idea. I personally thought the RBI and FRBM acts should be given more teeth to push better state fiscal management, but maybe this has more chance of actually working. 🙂

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Sep 11, 2023·edited Sep 11, 2023

What to do when all parties participating in an election look avoidable?

1. Skip voting. One vote does not make a difference.

2. Do not skip, visit the booth (to let your local politicians see you). But press NOTA.

3. Keep thinking till you find one candidate less worse. Vote for that candidate. In case all candidates look equally horrible, press the NOTA.

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