Shantanu Dutta

Today’s Neta

Some statements stay with you. One of them is a Tweet I read a few days ago, just after Uddhav Thackeray had resigned as Chief Minister of Maharastra. The tweet…

The Self Perpetuating Power Elite 

The Indian Express report recently about a government-owned stadium being used by an IAS Officer to walk his dog after athletes practicing there were asked to vacate early, attracted so…

Dog Eat Dog

in what can only be called a cowboy operation, less than a month ago billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd. had taken over the operations of Future Retail and offered…

Should Indians Drink ? 

For a few weeks on February , Delhi witnessed the unusual phenomena of getting mind blowing discounts on liquor. Shops were advising buy one get one type offers , enticing…

Symbols not Substance 

In August 2018, India’s Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government renamed the historic Mughalsarai Junction Railway Station in the state of Uttar Pradesh after the right-wing Hindu ideologue Deen…

Big Pharma and Drug Misuse

I was buying some medicines at the local chemist shop a few months back. An elderly lady hobbled down the street to the shop and stood beside me. She opened…

Disempowering Beauty Pageants

The 70th Miss Universe pageant was held recently in Eilat, Israel and there is a lot of celebratory chatter going on. After 21 years another Indian, Harnaaz Sandhu has won…

Sikhs: The Generous People

Tensions have been rising in Gurugram, just outside of Delhi for some weeks on the matter of Muslims offering Namaz in the open in public spaces, sometimes blocking traffic. On…

Climate Change and our Dilemma

On the sidelines of the climate change COP 26 meetings, a lot of background information came out in the limelight. The information is not new, would have been known to…

Drug Laws and Drug Lords

The consumption and possession of narcotic  drugs has been under public lens in India in the wake of high-profile arrests in recent times. It has once again brought into the…

The Gig Worker

I usually use Uber Bikes, a bike-hailing service from Uber to get around short distances in my colony area… may be a maximum of 5 kilometers or so.  Apart from…

The Hangman’s Noose

Does the death penalty work ? Or is it an anachronism which is long past its “use by” date ? But still continues to remain in use ? According to…

An Age of Rage

A few days ago , a few guys were travelling in an electric rickshaw at about 11 pm in the night. The driver , possibly to break the monotony of…

Those who built my House

In the film, Dafan found on YouTube, a young civil engineer is giving a tour of a construction site to his manager and boss. When a worker at the site…

The 8 minute Parliament

The monsoon session has seen 20 bills passed in both Houses of Parliament, either without discussion or minimal, limited to treasury bench MPs speaking on the legislation. The Rajya Sabha…

Killing Ourselves 

Recently I watched a film with the title “ Project Marathwada”. The story is about an old farmer from Nandurbar , a small town in Maharashtra. He wants to meet…

Walls in the Cathedral

As I write this piece ,what lingers in my mind is the picture of the Indian women’s hockey team entering the women’s hockey semi finals for the first time in…

Nationhood Undefined

Someone I know serves as a high ranking officer of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) that India maintains under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) to “…

No room for Dissent 

In the post world war era, when the first wave of decolonisation happened and many countries were given their independence, India was the most prominent of those let go. Most…

A History Forgotten

During a visit to Amritsar some years ago, en route to the Golden Temple, I visited another neighboring Gurudwara – Gurudwara Saragarhi Sahib. The guide accompanying us narrated a bit…

Remembering a Golden Age

Very rarely one has the privilege and opportunity to see and observe a golden age. Mostly one reads about past golden ages in the history books…. The era of Ashoka,…

A Broken System

I never thought that the face of a broken justice system would be made visible to the nation through a bunch of doctors. As I write, a junior doctor’s strike…

Growing Old

For decades, I am observing my mother growing old. 3 memories, 3 falls stay in my mind. The first fall was on the streets of Kolkata and that made her…

Cry the Beloved Country …

Many years ago, I read a moving book appropriately titled “ Cry the beloved Country”. Written by Alan Paton, well-known author of the time, It was set in apartheid-era South…

Witch-hunting with Impunity

“Witch-hunting  is a modern phenomenon with ancient  roots. We are perhaps familiar of people being branded as witches in medieval times when certain people were labelled as ‘witches’ and executed…

Moving on from Primary Health Care

Primary health care is an important strategy which is the backbone of health service delivery. Primary health care is the day-to-day care needed to protect, maintain, or restore our health.…

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