OPINION

Of three major Asian nations, Japan became rich before becoming old. China had turned old before becoming rich; now India is young with the potential of becoming rich and literate without getting old

Narendra Modi has transformed the day-to-day functioning of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in the last one year. As compared to the western work philosophy "If it is not broken, don't fix it", Modi ethos for good governance is "Do it better and improve it, even if it isn't broken".

Modi has emerged as a politician who could facilitate the international investors entry into the market with super wealthy middle-class hungry for white goods. He is seen as a man who can open the womb of Indian economy for money purses. No wonder the Time cover headline says ‘Modi Matters.

When it comes to electoral strategy the BJP is a house divided. The party still cannot make up its mind as to what makes it acceptable to the masses -- the Hindutva agenda or economic reforms...

President Barack Obama wrote a special article for Times praising Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sky high. Obama described him as a par excellence political character. No American statesman has ever before showered such praises on any Indian leader.

For India there cannot be no China, likewise there can’t be no India for China. In today’s new age of coexistence and interdependence – the least that is expected of the two Asian giants is to know each other and work together. Any unethical, cut-throat competition between the neighbors could prove detrimental to the interest of the region as a whole.

There is a world of difference between the Modi government which assumed office and the milder version we have today. Why and for what is the BJP government suddenly gone soft on Pakistan? Who wins if India loses?

A hidden and invisible war is constantly going on in cyberspace. Military systems can be targeted at a critical phase of the war, specifically to disable the launching or delivery systems of missiles, disrupting command and control and information systems. Cyber attacks can also be used by governments to disrupt nuclear programmes of a country.

IITs and IIMs setup with the help of Americans in the 60s are not the best intuitions of learning that we can create. The elite that they are creating is much too imperfect and incapable of leading the society. Were the IITs and IIMs created for producing elite management cadres for the American market? Surely something is wrong, more so when, most IIT and IIM graduates are moving into marketing and not in the manufacturing sector for which they trained.

Less than two months ago al-Qaida unsuccessfully tried to hijack two Pakistani frigates PNS Aslat and PNS Zulfikar. Ostensibly its aim was to use them against Indian ships. All this should have been enough reason for the Indian government agencies responsible for coastal security to be on their toes. They aren’t.

Pakistan wants to market Jihadi-terrorism to destabilise J&K and make India bleed. The local militants in Kashmir have so far spurned Pakistan's overtures. As a result, militancy has reached the lowest ebb in Kashmir. Pakistani agents are finding it extremely difficult to enlist enough new recruits for subversive activities. It is just the situation India needs to capitalise and build on. It cannot remain a mute spectator.

There was a time there were many barriers for people who wished to communicate. People had to book trunk call and patiently wait for the operator to connect to the other party. There was no privacy; technically the operator could eavesdrop on the entire conversation. Then came the PCO. But people still had to walk a little distance away from their homes. The mobile phone now has transformed everything where it does not matter whether you are lying on bed or in the toilet-- it’s possible to communicate without any barriers of time, space or distance.