SOCIAL

The Bihar election quietly highlighted something much bigger than an electoral result: the growing power of Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs). 1.5 crore women received ₹10,000 directly. We can argue about the politics, but the economic impact is worth paying attention to. 1. From Leakage to Delivery For decades, public money leaked through layers of departments and intermediaries. With DB...

I came across this striking experiment by social psychologist Bibb Latané. Participants were placed in separate booths and asked to cheer as loudly as possible. In some cases, they were told they were shouting alone; in others, that their shouts would be combined with others in a group. In truth, they were always shouting alone. But when they believed they were part of a group, their effort...

Going Beyond Ikigai – Deciphering what you love doing and what you are good at Most of you would have heard about Ikigai. Ikigai is the Japanese concept that represents the intersection of four key elements: 1. What you are good at 2. What you love doing 3. What the world needs & 4. What it will pay you for It is the balance between aptitude, passion, societal value and market value, offe...

From the moment he chose the name “Francis,” it was clear that this pope would be different. His inspiration was St. Francis of Assisi— a truly noble 13th-century saint, who is often seen as the first ecological thinker who underscored the need to live in harmony with our environment. Pope Francis carried forward that spirit, emerging as a firm advocate for the climate agenda. He supported the...

Originally Published in Forbes McKinsey’s MECE (Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive) Framework has been used for structured thinking & communication by leading consultants, marketing professionals, journalists and other peer groups for five decades. The concept of MECE was brought into the world by Barbara Minto, who worked at McKinsey in the 1960s and 1970s. She was the first fem...

The last I wrote of my expectations from the PM was for his Independence Day speech. Some of the wishes I put forth must have been on his agenda as well, as I see some spur on these. Thought I must come up with the next set of asks from my PM on 69th Republic Day of India. So, for his consideration, here is my take on the top five areas he could focus on: 1. Avoid drastic interventions in Bu...

As far back as I can remember I always wanted to play by the rules and win. But as a young corporate executive I was losing. So almost since I started my corporate career, about twenty five years ago, I wanted to develop a system which could make the good man win. Let me narrate five stories, which are like milestones, in this journey I have undertaken. The Girl And Her Drawing: The Crafty c...

The Prime Minister of UK, this week stated, that UK would no longer offer AID to the Indian poor as it is the Indian rich who should help their poor bretheren (Sic). But the Indian rich don’t usually help their poor bretheren. They don’t even consider the poor their brethren. Instead they have so blinded the world with the vulgar display of their wealth that the so far generous Western world is al...

One of the first residents of Gurgaon, Yudhishthira (of Mahabharata fame) was in a way a stray dog lover. As the Pandavas, post the war, set East towards the direction of the Himalayas, a stray dog follows Yudhisthira. On the way Draupadi and the younger brothers fall one by one but Yudhisthira trudges along with the mongrel in tow. At the door to the heaven, it is said, Lord Indra welcomes Yudhis...

This paper carried news of the launch of a campaign to make the city Gurgaon a no-honking zone by an NGO – Earth Saviour’s Foundation and the members of a major horn manufacturing company. They went a step too far and tied a dog onto a post at the busy Shankar Chowk and wrote a mighty offensive line with the cartoon of a dog on a poster – ‘Kutta bhi bina vajah nahin bhonkta. Horn nahi bajayen’...