Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

I think the challenges faced by the Andhra Pradesh govt. after bifurcation of erstwhile unified Andhra Pradesh into Telangana (which got the jewel of Hyderabad in terms of revenue) and residual Andhra Pradesh (which has no big revenue generation city), are enormous and unparalleled in whatever I have seen or read about in my life in mainland India as an adult (or even as a boy) over the past four to five decades. That Hon'ble AP Chief Minister (CM) Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._Chandrababu_Naidu , and his team have courageously taken on this challenge and are doing everything they can to make it a great opportunity, is wonderful and inspiring. I pray to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to shower His Grace on these efforts of AP CM N. Chandrababu Naidu and team, including those from the central govt. of India, govts. of Singapore & Japan, and private and public companies involved in this HUGE task of building a 21st century state capital city from scra...

Note: This has been copy-pasted from http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=3 , for the left hand pane entry in October 2015 (Prime Minister's Office) titled "Text of PM’s address at the Foundation Ceremony of ‘Amaravathi’- New Capital City of Andhra Pradesh (22-October 2015)" I have given rough English translation of some paragraphs. Text of PM’s address at the Foundation Ceremony of ‘Amaravathi’- New Capital City of Andhra Pradesh आज विजया-दशमी के इस पावन पर्व पर और नवरात्रि की शक्ति उपासना के बाद आंध्र प्रदेश एक महत्वपूर्ण कदम उठा रहा है। आज आंध्र प्रदेश की राजधानी, जो राजधानी सदियों से अपनी एक सांस्कृतिक विरासत ले करके जी रही है, अपनी एक ऐतिहासिक विरासत को ले करके जी रही है, उस संस्कृति के साथ जोड़ते हुए, उस ऐतिहासि‍क विरासत के साथ जोड़ते हुए अमरावती नए रंग-रूप के साथ, नए आधुनिक साज-सज्जा के साथ आंध्र के आशा-अपेक्षा का केंद्र बिन्दु बनने जा रही है और एक प्रकार से सच्चे अर्थ में people’s capital बनने जा रही है। मैं यहां की सरकार को, यहां के नागरिकों ...

Today's (16th October 2015) The Hindu carried a very interesting and informative article titled, 'Breaking the bonds of rural poverty', http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/column-by-jos-graziano-da-silva-on-world-food-day-breaking-the-bonds-of-rural-poverty/article7766702.ece , written by José Graziano da Silva, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. I have copy-pasted the entire contents of the article below: Today, on World Food Day, the world has a lot to celebrate. As a global community, we’ve made real progress in fighting global hunger and poverty in recent decades. A majority of the countries monitored by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation — 72 out of the 129 — have achieved the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the prevalence of undernourishment in their populations by 2015. Meanwhile, the share of people in developing regions who live in extreme poverty has come down significantly, too — fr...

Given below is some of my part (edited) of a mail conversation I had recently: Well, after Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba Mahasamadhi (April 2011), I studied Indian and international political happenings. And given the massive amount of info. easily available on the Internet, I got a lot of insights into, not only how decisions get taken in Indian state and union govt. levels, but also about how it happens in some states of the USA and in Washington D.C. I don't know how much exposure you have to politics. But it is brutal. I recently read about the Whitewater controversy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater_controversy , that had some negative impact on Bill Clinton's (USA) presidency (not that I believed the allegations; just was noting how the game was played to understand contemporary politics). Vince Foster, long time friend of Hillary Clinton, who was Deputy White House Counsel in the first few months of the Bill Clinton presidency, is reported to have committed s...