Warrier's blog

It’s a different innings for Sachin | Business Line My VIEW: ‘Sachin’ Model This refers to Raghuvir Srinivasan’s piece “It’s a different innings for Sachin”(April 1) and BL interview with Sachin Tendulkar with focus on development of Puttamraju Kandrika in Andhra Pradesh as a model village under Sansad Gram Yojana. Let us congratulate Sachin and Joint Collector Rekha Rani whose leadership qualities and the urge to do something for India changed the lives of 400 people in the adopted village. Projects like community development project under which development of blocks of manageable size were under Block development Officers(BDOs) responsible for planning and ensuring linkages, Lead bank Scheme under which flow of credit to villages under the purview of each bank branch(under service area approach)  were to be provided backward and forward linkages necessary to ‘absorb’ credit for productive purposes and  Integrated Rural Development Programme have all contribut...

Nonchalant postman - The Hindu

Govt against consent of tribals for displacement | Business Standard News My VIEW: Lending norms This refers to the report “India against prior, informed consent of tribals for displacement”(March 31). As a lender, World Bank is known for imposing conditionalities which go much beyond the normal safeguards taken by a banker while extending credit. In the instant case, the requirements borders trespass of the borrowing nation’s sovereign right to manage its resources to the country’s advantage. The human rights and environment protection issues are being used as a veil to enforce lender’s right to withhold credit.  Those who are suspicious about India’s stand here may note that the World Bank is trying to interfere in the internal policies of the borrowing nation by luring the country with a ‘small soft’ loan. Having said that, the argument is not that local population’s livelihood rights or right to proper rehabilitation when land is acquired for development projects....

Indoctrination in the guise of education - The Hindu My VIEW: When scholars talk, chances are that common man may trust them blindly. Unfortunately, the sensitivity of the issue on hand has made Professor Rohit Dhankar to pick and choose stanzas from Gita and give interpretations to suit his line of argument. Let me draw his attention to Dr S Radhakrishnan’s perception of the purport of the now controversial stanza 4:13 of Bhagavad Gita. He explained caturvarnyam thus: “…the fourfold order. The emphasis is on guna(aptitude) and karma (function) and not jati (birth). The varna or the order to which we belong is independent of sex, birth or breeding…” Readers may take into account Dr Radhakrishnan’s interpretation of Bhagavad Gita also before coming to conclusions based on this article. M G Warrier, Thiruvananthapuram

How much of Indian Constitution is for “We, the people”? - Moneylife This article was published in 2012. Posting again, instead of writing another article. Revisiting the provisions of Indian Constitution is always rewarding. M G Warrier

Medha Patkar quits AAP - Moneylife My VIEW: The goings on within AAP or the criticism AAP is facing would not surprise those who have been watching the ‘evolution’ of AAP as a political party. The emergence of AAP on India’s political scene was welcomed by many including this writer. Not because we expected AAP to become a political alternative at a time when both left and right, as also the middle, if one existed, political forces and their leaderships were doing more harm to the country than good. AAP served as a timely ALARM or Wake-up Call for the people of India who left their destiny to the inefficient and corrupt political leadership. AAP has played its role as a change agent. For sustaining the change, ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ should take charge. M G Warrier

I knew E X Joseph since early 1960’s when he was Secretary General of the All India Audit & Accounts Employees’ Association when he was based in Mumbai and I had just joined Accountant General’s Office, Trivandrum. He maintained our relationship unbroken since then, though both of us passed through many phases of life both in personal and ‘official’ life. Every New Year, every ONAM, every X’mas we remembered each other. I had opportunity to understand his association with V K Krishna Menon and V R Krishna Iyer, to read his writings on human issues and to watch from a distance his work in relation to publications he edited and books he wrote. Copied below is the poem he mailed to me on March 28, 2015: TO JESUS ON THE CROSS The cross was your destiny, it was bound to be You challenged power, defied authority You exposed the hollowness of the learned mind You pulled down the gods that man had created You rejected the claims of the priests, the Pharisees You walked with the lo...