Public Goods And Private Empires
In my house in a village above Shimla I am treated to an orchestral performance every evening when it rains. The musicians are a…
<table> <tbody> <tr> <td>The author retired from the IAS in December 2010. A keen environmentalist and trekker he has published a book on high altitude trekking in the Himachal Himalayas: THE TRAILS LESS TRAVELLED. His second book- SPECTRE OF CHOOR DHAR is a collection of short stories based in Himachal and was published in July 2019. His third book was released in August 2020: POLYTICKS, DEMOCKRAZY AND MUMBO JUMBO is a compilation of satirical and humorous articles on the state of our nation. His fourth book was published on 6th July 2021. Titled INDIA: THE WASTED YEARS , the book is a chronicle of missed opportunities in the last nine years. Shukla's fifth book - THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER'S DOG AND OTHER COLLEAGUES- was released on 12th September 2023. It portrays the lighter side of life in the IAS and in Himachal. He writes for various publications and websites on the environment, governance and social issues. He divides his time between Delhi and his cottage in a small village above Shimla. He blogs at http://avayshukla.blogspot.in/</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
In my house in a village above Shimla I am treated to an orchestral performance every evening when it rains. The musicians are a…
Unanswered questions persist, notwithstanding the whitewashing by the govt., CAG and the Supreme Court, and the issue appears to have reached a dead end in India.
We did it again last Thursday- for the seventh time India abstained on a UN vote that asked Russia to cease hostilities and vacate…
DNA sequencing has established conclusively that humans share 99% of their genomes with chimpanzees and bonobos monkeys, and 98% with gorillas. In other words,…
A disclaimer is in order before I venture into the rest of this piece. These days, any hack of standing has to begin with…
The New India Whining This last fortnight has not been a good one for the BJP or its bhaktiveers, even if we discount the…
We are presently living in a geological epoch known as the HOLOCENE, which commenced about 12000 years ago after the Little Ice Age. It…
One of the more sobering take-aways from the book is the realisation that balancing home and work-life is a precarious exercise for a career woman in India even today, no matter that you belong to the most sought after service in the country.
The Himachal Chief Minister should learn from the subsidence that is happening in Joshimath (Uttarakhand): the whole town is sinking under the weight of over construction and bad planning- more than 700 houses have already had to be abandoned.