” President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address – Voice from the God ” – February 7 , 2023.

President Joe Biden delivered his second State of the Union address tonight. ( February 8, 2023 – 7.30 to 9.30 a.m. IST ).

Continuing and reflecting on his 2020 Election theme – battle for the soul of nation, economy built from bottom up, rebuilding the backbone of America, and Uniting the nation – he substantiated admirably with his actions in the last two years with the Acts and Projects initiated, funded, and with directions in the course of their development. He discounted strongly the thoughts of ‘conflict for conflict’, ‘power for power’, and ‘fighting for the sake of fighting’.

The essence of his talk centered around, (a) manufacturing and new technology, under the Chips Act, (b) protecting healthcare, under the Inflation Reduction Act, and (c) benefits to people through sectoral enhancements, under the Infrastructure Act.

(a) He was delighted to highlight the yeoman service that Intel corp (forerunner to the Chip revolution in America ) lent to the progress of new technology and the Nation . That this occupied his first reference in his speech on the tech companies is a special honour to the company without any doubt. From being the first inventor with the general contribution of Chips to power life with 40% benefaction overall to a disturbing 10% or less now, he emphasised his resolve and the company’s (Intel corp) efforts in reshoring and onshoring with a $100million manufacturing centre in Ohio on a 1000 acre field with 10000 jobs initiated by the company on its own even before any special allocations through bipartisan Chips Act, as extremely gratifying and remarkable. He added that about 7000 construction workers and 3000 other jobs within the industry providing an income of $ 130000/ year to even those without college degrees is nothing short of exceptional. Intel should certainly have felt emboldened and strengthened to be singled out by name and programs in President’s Speech.

About 10 million Americans applied to start new businesses in the last 2 years because of better access to capital – a sign of progress in the SME sector. While these support the fact that America can and will lead the world in manufacturing, enhancing the breadth of American products while creating more jobs.

(b) ” We are protecting your health ; you can better sleep at night ; you will pay less for prescription drugs ; patients under Medicare need not pay more than $ 2000 per year ; cuts in federal deficit by billions of dollars will not hurt seniors by even a penny ; I stand up for the seniors ; Social Security and Medicare will not be taken away anytime ; we will discuss our mutual plans further with Republicans ; 16 million more under affordable care act ” – are some of his promises under the Inflation Reduction Act. Well goaded and Citizens may be buoyed.

(c) Need for strengthening infrastructure cannot be more than emphasised to maintain our best economy at this juncture. Need for democrats and republicans to come together to connect our nation better and forge unity. There have already been 300 bipartisan legislations passed since I took charge. Founded over 20000 projects. Connecticut and Kentucky projects (bridges) were specially highlighted. Connecting the country with high speed internet through implementation of projects is another great task. His call for making all construction materials in America itself and his vision for an economy where none will be left behind have been lauded with applauses. His earnest admission that there still great tasks ahead and many things are just coming to fruition now is an excellent reflection of LEADERSHIP honestly admitting the shortcomings. He didn’t fail to focus the failure of his predecessor for adding 25% of deficit over 200 years in just his one term. Also he had his share of focus on billionaires, big pharma, and big companies underscoring strongly that no billionaire should pay tax less than a school teacher or a firefighter. He valued public trust in life.

In pirlique it can be said :

Times are tough now and it was a spirit filled speech rising to the moment without turning away. He focused on what people love and appreciate. Also with an inherent internal joy he did what he enjoyed most about his job, perhaps. He was looking at the positive things that happened amidst and also on lessons from the wrongs and mistakes made with negative comments/fallout from the analysts and public. He must have been fully recharged now, emotionally prepared himself for the tasks ahead. Those who have sat with him in the hall and those who listened may have definitely found it relaxing in life from this moment. He ended saying that “he is optimistic, hopeful, and forward looking. America is a nation based on ideas ; America is a nation with a new age of possibilities. Power of our example is strong”.

His perspectives have for sure come from the Almighty in this speech.

Tidbit : ” Public Safety needs Public Trust ; but too often Trust remains violated ” – President Joe Biden.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023 – 10.15 a.m. (IST).

” Break the Fields into Divisions for Applications in ChatGPT – Management and Industrial Engineering Perspective – February 7, 2023.

ChatGPT has reinvigorated the concept of avant-garde beyond a revolutionary style in the growth of Technology. Answering questions ; writing essays, speeches, and articles ; compare and contrast opinions and philosophies held by individuals ; and even writing software codes – captivating and engaging not just specialists in education/industry but everyone from GenZers to Baby boomers with no distinction. Pros and cons are being debated. Memories of growth come galloping forward and backward.

ChatGPT can be taken to have crossed the introductory innovation stage and entered the growth/application stage now. The challenge now is to expand its growth in as many sectors as possible with the benefits reaching a large section of humanity.

I would like to place my singular effective strategy to achieve this goal linking my experience in Management and Industrial Engineering.

Management and IE specialists will always hold a special honour and gratitude to Frederick Winslow Taylor for his published work on “The Principles of Scientific Management” (1911) in which he advocated, emphasized, and favoured solving the work problems through improved management methods and raising productivity.

Businesses, modern industries, and even professional sports remain benefited from his methods even today. Taylor’s solution primarily lies in ” Breaking the Job into Elements ” and attempting to reduce the processing time of each.

When this is applied to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the ChatGPT process and results, what stays in front of our eyes is not just the Fields where OpenAI has made its presence felt already but how its growth and spread can be enhanced in the days to come.

Essentially the task lies in ” Breaking each Field into Divisions ” and applying the technique in the same manner as done for the Field.

If the Field is Marketing, then the Divisions would be ” Sales ; Segmentation ; Product LifeCycle ; Marketing Research ; and so on. If the Field is Retail, then the Divisions would be ” Supply Chain ; Inventory Management ; Logistics ; Customer Service ; and so on. If the Field is Constitution, then the Divisions would be ” Local ; Regional ; National ; Border States ; and Global. If the Field is Warfare, then the Divisions would be Army, Navy, Airforce, Infowar, Cyberwar and so on. The dataset used to train AI should relate and conform to the Divisions as specified above for accurate answers/results.

Most of you may have or may not have heard of : 1. ChatGPT, 2. Claude by Anthropic (a Constitutional AI); 3. Character AI (enabling one to speak to historians, legends, experts … to gain their views of how the world is visualised ) ; 4. Adept AI ( Intelligence by enabling humans and computers to work together creatively ); 5. Blenderbot (Meta AI Chatbot); 6. Bard ( Launched by Google to rival ChatGPT. It combines the breadth of the World’s knowledge with the power, Intelligence, and creativity of its large language models); 7. Ellie AI ( enabling e:mail communications ) ; 8. Ernie AI by the Chinese Baidu ; 9. Cohere AI ( A different approach to AI creating Application Programming Interfaces – APIs – avoiding exclusivity ; available to all in cloud platforms ; open access business model with ability to create more enterprise applications ).

What will follow now will be hundreds and thousands of Specific models that will enable easy, more accurate, and less unreliable Chatbots increasing the usage and applications through the Economy. Focus and success of AI, ML, and Data Science researchers on these aspects of Innovation and Creativity will define, direct, and guide the growth of Chatbots in sectors. This is not impossible. This will be a real game-changer. Every professional, educator, and learner will now be kept on his/her toes for months, years, decades, and more.

Tidbit : ” If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be “.

Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

” Expectations High, Excitement Low ” – January 3, 2023.

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Justice BV Nagarathna, sole dissenter.

Demonetisation verdict by SC finally puts the lid on the matter that has been dragging for nearly 6 years with feet and body moving in different directions. All petitions have been rejected. Constitution bench headed by Justice SA Nazeer, Justice AS Bopanna, Justice BR Gavai, Justice V Ramasubramanian, and Justice Ms BV Nagarathna pronounced the judgement. Nothing exacting from the court’s analysis of the decision making process. It was a clear endorsement of the action of the Government and its decision making process. Justice Ms BV Nagarathna, however, called the decision, ” unlawful and vitiated”. But she also added that, ” Demonetisation has been implemented with noble intention but the legality of interpretation remains questionable “.

Her disagreement lay in (1) RBI not exercising independent application of mind ( Full work being carried out in just 24 hours ); (2) the power of Government executed by notification and not by plenary legislation ( Full responsibility is what is missing here ) ; and (3) opinion given by RBI cannot be construed as a recommendation under sec 26 (2) of the RBI Act. For those whose agony and anguish of Demonetisationwas inexpressible this should provide some solace and comfort.

I record my management perspective on this here :

Figure 1 below presents the ‘management perspective’ for Demonetisation .

Mission : Financial Security, Financial Stability, and Financial Peace.

Goal : Overall peace, Security, Elimination of Terrorist Financing , Stabilisation of Economic Growth, and Path for modernization/digital India.

Objectives : For India it lies in abandonment of prevailing high denomination currency ; It initiated parity with many developed nations ; and acceleration of digital initiatives accrued.

Policies : Meetings/Consultations between Government and RBI ; Committed decision making.

Direction : Develop good understanding between the Government and RBI ; build relationships with industry and party affiliates; Continue peace discussions ; Exchange information to make it as far as being transparent ; Emphasise Government’s commitment to the security of Indian regime; and I portray this action as the beginning of a new beginning.

Control : A team to oversee outcomes/progress on Demonetisation ; Recognise Government’s lead role with RBI in fructification of the program ; Garner support from leaders, experts, analysts, Citizens and identify significant role for agencies ; and to elicit positive acknowledgement globally.

Perhaps a test in the direction of a humongous task likely to last for 5 years with degrees of pain looming large over how long can this be sustained without any turmoil.

It was, nevertheless, felt that it was an authentic event of more than just common interest.

PM, Modi, held his head firmly on his shoulders seeking people’s approval for this action.

Figure 2 below depicts the elements of Success and Failure of the decision of Demonetisation.

PM had set his heart on a positive outcome from his action. It can be termed a legacy accomplishment ; enhancing national image ; and the likely better performance and consequences of raising the reputation.

This is not an annual event but one with capacity to extend for a long period of time into the future.

Three aspects need mention here :

1. ” One Vision ” : Vision set clearly ; embodies the safety and security of the nation ; provide more strength in key growth sectors ; and presenting its military strength nationally.

2. ” One Nation ” : Key national goal of pride, safety, and security to be achieved ; Sense of all Citizens belonging to one nation to emerge.

3. ” World View ” : Entire world has been watching the sequences of our actions and paying attention to their outcomes ; Action plans going forward and opinions held by leaders ;. Obstacles tackled ; Nature of integration and cooperation accelerated in stages ensuring the Central theme and focus of a safe future for the common good of all Citizens in our nation. 4. What happened after the 2000 dot com crash, 2008 Financial disaster when investors had to face the words of greedy managers breaking their promises ; problems investors had to face to recover their wealth ; turmoil followed in relationships, personal and social ; and a loss of confidence were seen in altered ways like concern, anger, frustration, rhetorics and shook with psychological impacts leading even to fear psychosis for a time.

5. Shaking things up as remedied regulations and punishment to the catastrophically erring (though it takes time) to some extent restored people’s confidence. A great turnaround in politics is not as simple as the businesses requiring time, effort, and resources not just in huge measure but crossing unimagined hurdles of uncertainty ; multiple social welfare issues to be addressed as time moves on ; challenges to co-ordinate the efforts ; and need to deflect attempts to interfere by other powers with biased intents.

Figure 3 above provides an analysis of the impact of the decision to close the petitions. This aspect has not been dealt with by analysts so far and the representative figure can be a good model. The probability of serious dissent can be gauged based on past occurrences.

The individual chances for each of the subevent laid out in the figure can be obtained in fractions. A good opportunity to apply AI. The figure indicates that the chances of a serious consequence is very small and insignificant, though some disturbances can’t be ruled out.

No blame or excuse management is purposed here.

The judgement by the SC will be remembered by everyone if the safety and security of nation is ensured as envisaged in the Mission. A working forum to constantly track the scenario from now on is one that cannot be dismissed. We may well be starting off on a new footing. It will increase confidence even if lots more effort can be made thereafter independently and jointly than when the decision was made first on November 8, 2016 . There are, however, measures possible if a turmoil sets in spelling dangers to the nation and Citizens. It now depends on Emotional Declarations which I foresee will be negligible. At this juncture there may not be any urgent need for immediate actions.

Will every citizen share the optimism is the question now.

Tidbit : ” Lawyers will do anything to win a case, sometimes they even tell the truth “. – Patrick Murray.

Tuesday , January 3, 2023. 4.00 p.m.

” People Over Power ” – February , 2023.

” Government and Industry mimic each other in terms of their hierarchical positions and related functions with the goal of providing enhanced experiences and energising people.”

Companies have their CEOs ; Directors ; General Managers ; Officers ; Staff, and finally, not the least, their “Shareholders”.

Governments have each a President /Prime Prime Minister with powers according to the type of Government ; Cabinet Ministers ; Ministers of State ; Secretaries ; Deputy /Under Secretaries ; Officers ; Staff ; and finally, not the least, “Citizens”.

This is not the only similarity between the two.

If Companies hold their focus on “taking their shareholders forward”, Governments hold their focus on “taking their Citizens forward”.

If the Companies’s culture of “Shareholders First” centers around ownership, foresight, and collaboration, Governments’ culture of “People First” also centers around ownership, foresight, and collaboration.

It is clear from the above that each Citizen is a shareholder of the Company, called the Nation. If there is one thing that makes a significant difference to people’s lives it is the “Approach” adopted by the Government that lies in its “People First” goal.

Industry provides products or extends services ; fulfills the aspirations of the employees ; fulfills the essential and other requirements of the People ; creates extensions of their lines of products; enhances its branches to different geographical areas of the country and beyond ; and provide employment and livelihood to more people by increasing their efficiency and effectiveness of their scale of operations; Gains Reputation ; and raises its Long Term Sustainability (LTS). LTS is its Return on Investment (ROI) that the industry’s initiatives deliver.

Governments create Plans and Programs ; devise action plans for their implementation ; create resources (financial capital) ; provides employment opportunities to people ; delivers people services with positive results ; Gains Reputation ; and raises its Long Term Sustainability (LTS). This also strengthens the party structure of the Government which is its Return on Investment (ROI).

Performance and Reputation are the key drivers of Long Term Sustainability of both the Industry and the Government. Figure represents this.

Production in Industry and Plans & Programmes in Government need resources in terms of ‘ money’ though in different degrees. The need for Financial Capital is Key to industry, however.

Challenges of the Pandemic ; higher push for diverse, inclusive, and mentally healthy employees and citizens in both cases emphasise the importance of empathy, trust, and physiological well being of both employees and citizens. Pandemic also caused a shift in the balance of power with people getting sharper by the day in control. Relatively silent over a decade ago people now start questioning the Government and Industry vociferously. They are also hiking their demands by the day. In terms of support and compensation they have set their demands high from both the Government and the Industry, perhaps rightly so. This leads to a situation of “Resignation” for both the Government and the Industry.

The following Five factors hold the key to LTS in both the Government and the Industry to neutralize the feeling of ‘Resignation’ and strike a balance between their goals :

1. 1. Both the Government and Industry should display the need for a shared sense of purpose strongly now than ever before. People’s understanding of the Leader’s Visionary action have grown considerably. Need for Leaders of both the Government and Industry to make the Citizens and Employees more valued is becoming high in the order of their priorities and actions as the key driver setting in motion the policies and programs.
2. 2. A strong need for the Leaders to know their team well and experienced enough to engage with them is also growing focusing on ‘Inspirational Leadership’ in both Government and Industry. 3. Transparency and a clearly positive environment for work and living to make people feel that they are being heard, they are being supported, and they are being valued is a prime criterion for functioning in both Government and Industry.
3. 4. Improving the community each serves is the main task. Improving employees and citizens form a big part of that.
4. 5. Everything programmed and specified in policies, plans, communications, and partnerships by the Government and Industry need to be consistent. People hold their own yardstick to rate everything. The above Five Factors constitute a socially conscious political model of “Putting People First” which is applicable to industry in terms of “Putting Employees First”.
5. “Bharat Jodo Yatra” undertaken by Sri Rahul Gandhi, Congress Leader, covering 12 States and 2 Union territories from Kanyakumari to Kashmir for a distance of 3570 km should strive to achieve the above goals if it has to be remembered as a successful exercise.

” Varadarajan – Glittering Sunlight in Life” – November, 3, 2022.

1. 1. Varadarajan was kindness personified ,
2. With gesture and smile eternally amplified,
3. Still lives as a Star in horizon, not died,
4. Still awakens our hearts to make all the bleary-eyed look blue eyed.
5. 2. When the heavens open, we know he is happy there,
6. When we grieve for loss, he is bracing himself for love there,
7. When we count the days here, he makes his days count there,
8. When we live in a world of change here, he lives amidst uniformity there.
9. 3. He prays, prays always, for our peace from heaven,
10. He pursues, pursues always, our passion from heaven ,
11. He recognises, recognises always, our hopes from heaven,
12. He thanks, thanks always, for our strength from heaven.

” Dieu avec nous “

Thursday, November 3, 2022.

” Drone Technology Revolution – Drone Festival in India – May 27 /28, 2022″.

Drone Festival in India held as part of PM Swamitva Yojana gives a boost to Drone applications in various sectors as Agriculture, Retail, Education, Farming, Sports, Defense, and Health. PM is keen that technology should benefit the masses while encouraging the youth to develop startups in this field for economic, social, and community benefits. Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022 is held with this Noble aim.

Let me cite the most recent practical application witnessed in retail just this week in U. S. A. : ” What Walmart does, even Amazon /Google cannot match now.

According to David Guggina, Senior VP of Innovation and Automation, Walmart, U. S. A., – Droneup delivery by Walmart to households within 30 minutes between the hours of 8 a.m to 8 p.m for packages of 10 pounds if you are in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, or Virginia for a fee of just $3.99 safely. Presently it is operational in, 34 sites and will be extended to all parts of U. S. A. soon.

Reported just 3 days ago in America.

Embrace Walmart and not ignore.

Dieu avec nous

Saturday, May 28, 2022 – 3.29 p.m. (IST)

Tidbit : ” Drones overall will be more impactful than I think people recognise in positive ways to help society” – Bill Gates.

” Enduring Situations and Practices for Growth and Prosperity ” – December 28, 2021.

The level of happiness of Indians rose to ecstatic when Parag Agrawal took charge as CEO of Twitter. According to a research report a few years ago, about 33% of immigrant bounded companies in America were started by Indians. About 25% of Engineering and Technology companies between 1995-2005, and about 33% of Engineering and Technology companies between 2006-2012 have been the contribution of immigrant Indians. Americans have also bought several of these companies for billions of dollars.

The dominance of Indians among CEOs of 30% of Fortune 500 companies, and one third of engineers in Silicon Valley companies have also been detailed in research reports. Management, Communication, Hard work, and Human Resources have been the chief causative factors responsible for the accomplishments of Indians.

Indians make up 1% of the American population ; and 6% of employees in the Silicon Valley area. More than 10 lakhs out of the 40 lakh Indians are scientists and engineers. In cities like Seattle Indian engineers make up 40% of those from other countries. It is no surprise then that Indians occupy positions in the higher echelons of specialists in many organisations.

The secret of Indian success is also not new. Management Guru, Corporate Strategist, Educator, and Author – late CK Prahalad ( Michigan State University) cited the following as our success mantra : undue importance to caste certificates, undue importance to birth and death certificates, fierce competition for space in schools and colleges, inadequate educational infrastructure facilities, and failure to recognise and accept abilities openly constituting the ‘barriers’ one needs to ‘break’ for progress in India from a very young age. Indians gain immense experience in healthy competition, tackling rivalries, and problem solving in every stage of life making them well equipped in these traits. It also constitutes the main stepping stone to a person’s success. On the flip side it gives rise to insignificant, inconsequential, and inessential pleasures whenever an Indian becomes the CEO of any American company in the idle hope that we will be the ultimate controller of American companies and even American economy. In effect it is not of any great importance either. Many may not be even be aware of the fact that long before anyone becomes the CEO they become “American Citizens” with their full belonging to our nation India less revealing.

It is against this background we should with pride view the contributions of the doyens of Indian industry through a different but rational prism. Ratan Tata, Rahul Bajaj, Venu Srinivasan, Mallika Srinivasan, Narayanamurthy, Asim Premji, Sridhar Vembu, Mukesh Ambani, Aditya Birla, Kiran Majumdar Shah, Anand Mahindra, Shiv Nadar, and other such Indian corporate giants afforded opportunities and employment to crores of Indians in diverse sectors economy like, Computers, Information Technology, Communication, Housing, Construction, Consumer goods, Renewable energy, Hotels, Entertainment, Media and the likes without being recognised or remembered ‘deservingly’. Instead we even go to the extent of criticising or even pouring scorn without any respect on some or many such individuals as Leaders of too big companies with an indirect hold on the governance of our nation as a whole. Aditya Birla employed 1.5 lakhs, Infosys’s Narayanamurthy employed 2 lakhs, Reliance employed 2.5 lakhs, Mahindra employed 2 lakhs, HCL employed 1.5 lakhs, Wipro employed 2 lakhs, Tatas employed 7 lakhs, TVS employed 60000, Bajaj employed 50000 and the list goes on. No less than 30 lakhs and even comparable enough to the Central Government Employee strength of 40 lakhs or so. We need to discept and debate if the immigrant Indian CEOs /employees in America had willingly accepted the positions offered or were compelled to accept jobs due to lack of the right opportunities and support for their talent in India.

Indian entrepreneur, GR Gopinath looks at this issue from his own perspective. He terms this as : ” Victory for America ; not for India”. His reason : ” Skills and enterprise of Indians have been utilised in a constructive manner by the Americans. India lost its ability to channel this expertise.”

At this juncture it will be worth looking at China and its manoeuvres on this issue. China has built on its own accord, on its own land hugely competitive organisations of high calibre in the world like “Alibaba, Ten Cent, Baidu, Weibo, Huawei, Xiaomi, ZTE, Great Wall Motors, Fox Conn and the likes with the right kind of opportunities, education, training, and experience with little brain drain. Chinese people are the sole beneficiaries of employment and sustenance. India needs to strive hard to encourage and establish Indian talent within its own land even while fully recognising the fact that China and India are nations portraying different governance structures and abilities.

India is a flourishing democracy ; its leaders are elected once in 5 years usually by the citizens democratically. India is also home to rule by a single party or a coalition group in both the Centre and States.

China is a one party nation; one party government ; prevailing 8 hour work day with employee welfare laws and schemes; no strikes or bandh ; no struggle or scuffle; no lockouts or obstructions ; no condemnation meetings; and no false propaganda against the Government (they are put down vehemently). Ability and capacity beget credit and acknowledgement, and prosperity can be attained within the nation itself.

It is still doubtful in our country if such promises and recognition are possible. It is also difficult to compare the two nations as each has its pros and cons.

Just like the beetles go where the flowers are, Indians will go to places where there are better opportunities. It is our natural law; it is in our psyche.

About 6 lakh Indians have adopted the citizenship of America and England in the last 5 years. There is a need to look into the reasons why it has happened. Research is also needed on the aspects of why and how Indians successfully start organisations in America.

Equality of Education and Job Opportunities within India ; Opportunity to start one’s own enterprise with ease and without any red tape ( less beaurocratic paperwork and officialdom) ; A system shorn of bribery ; Approval for business based on Single Window processing spontaneously ; Implementation of people welfare/progress plans and programs without political interference and Opposition – will be the key requirements to keep Indians within our shores and make India Great.

The above may sound ‘obvious’ and may even be dismissed easily. But, as the 30th American President, Calvin Coolidge, emphasised in his governance : ” Take care of the OBVIOUS ; 50% of the PROBLEMS will be taken care of themselves”.

” Dieu avec nous”

Tuesday, December 28, 2021 – 9.59 a.m. (IST)

Tidbit : ” He is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive; but those who can best manage change”. – Charles Darwin.

( This is meant to be a short essay )

” Bangladesh – 50th Victory Day ” – December 16, 2021.

” Despite the many differences the fact that I am an” Indian” has been deeply entrenched in our minds inexorably linked to each other and unable to be treated separately ” – believed our Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. But, Jammu and Kashmir was separated and accorded a special status prominently attributable to the immense people popularity enjoyed by Sheikh Abdullah inducing good faith largely. Today that status also remains repealed.

In another instance,, the obstinacy and pertinacity of Muhammad Ali Jinnah that the region highly populated by Muslims should be separated creating a new Nation, Pakistan, combined with the indirect support of the British could not prevent Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, and Vallabhai Patel from the formation of the new Nation, Pakistan. It took its birth on August 14, 1947.

That Pakistan took its birth as twins ( West Pakistan and East Pakistan) separated from each other by 1600 km geographically is its exquisiteness. There was no connecting Road from West Pakistan to East Pakistan. To go from East to west or from West to East one has to cross the Indian land or Indian skies. I cannot remember any other country divided into two regions geographically in this fashion in the World.

That East Pakistan could not sustain its cooperation with West Pakistan since its foundation because of differences in language, culture, and even physical characteristics of their people is not surprising.

The total land area of West Pakistan is 8.8 lakh sqkm. Its population is 19 crores. About 97% are Muslims and only 3% constitute individuals of other religion(s). Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi, and Lahore are the big cities. People speak the languages of Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi.

East Pakistan or today’s Bangladesh has a land area of 1.48 lakh sqkm. Its population is 16.2 crores. About 83% of people are Muslims and Hindus constitute 16%. People speak the following languages : Bangladesh, Chakma, Hindi, Urdu, Bawm and other.

Punjabis and Pathans constitute predominantly the West Pakistanis. In the East it is mostly Bengalis. By their looks, appearance, colour, and configuration they are however different. For Bengalis their language and not the religion is prime. For West Pakistanis religion is prime.

The population of East Pakistan is more than that of the WEST Pakistan. East Pakistan also contributes 70% of the total Pakistan Export of Tea leaves and jute. But only 10%of the opportunities were afforded to East Pakistanis in Pakistan national military. It was against this background that a revolution erupted under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It made Ayub Khan lose his power and military General Yahya Khan took charge of Pakistan. But the situation on the ground did not much change.

Historians recognised and spelt out clearly that a combination of two regions with such disparate characteristics will not be sustainable only based on religion. History also has no such record of unification of contrasting geographical land areas.

There has not been any record of formal or systematic election processes from 1947 to 1970. Democracy did not blossom either. Only West Pakistan nationals enjoyed power and fame in Governance, Administration, Justice, and Authority. East Pakistanis were treated as second grade citizens..

The Pakistan Government in 1952 pronounced Urdu as its national language. Bengali speaking East Pakistanis resisted this proclamation strongly. A revolution began against this move of the Government. Thousands of young East Pakistanis lost their lives. This became its first Internal War against the Pakistan Government. The dead youth were celebrated as martyrs.

Severe Cyclone in 1970 created huge damage to people and prosperity in East Pakistan. Lakhs of people lost their lives. Authoritarian Pakistan Government did not pay any attention to Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation. The step motherly treatment meted out to East Pakistan triggered an angry and hate filled response towards the Government.

General Elections were held in late 1970. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League party captured 167 of the 169 seats in East Pakistan. Pakistan People’s Party led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto secured the largest single party status in West Pakistan. But it was unable to form the Government due to lack of coalition success.

It became proper for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to take charge as PM of Pakistan. Bhutto refused to yield. Military leadership also played against Mujibur Rahman. Yahya Khan was the military General then and he postponed the Parliament sitting. Under the pretense of initiating diplomatic conversations he prepared for an all out attack against East Pakistan. His singular objective was to control the revolution in East Pakistan. This led to the imprisonment of Mujibur Rahman in West Pakistan.

Dhaka rally of March 7, 1971, and the flag hoisting of March 23, 1971, (flag of Bangladesh) marked the beginning of a new Nation under the Leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Pakistan army began the war on East Pakistan killing nearly 3 lakh people ; wounding nearly 5 lakh people ; destabilising about 3 crore people ; and resulting in nearly 1 crore people fleeing to India crossing the borders. There was no limit to the atrocities let loose by the Pakistan Government under the “Operation Searchlight” to curb the Bengali Nationalist Movement in East Pakistan.

It continued for 7 to 8 months. International dailies and magazines covered the brutality let loose by General Yahya Khan’s military establishment. Except for India no other country came forward to express sorrow/worries leave alone showing even lip sympathy to the people of East Pakistan.

American Consulate in Pakistan sent information to U. S. Administration. Opposition leaders like Ted Kennedy even released warning messages.. But the administration turned a deaf ear to these and even sent the military ship, ” the Seventh Fleet” to the Bay of Bengal to prevent India from taking any action to salvage the people of East Pakistan.

Closely observing and analysing the situations developing in East Pakistan, the Indian PM, Indira Gandhi, established contacts with world leaders and submitted to control and stop the atrocities meted out to the East Pakistanis. It didn’t meet with any significant effect. America and China just watched the events ; Europe remained silent ; UN establishment could not stop the killings ; Only Soviet Union stood in support of India.

China regarded India as its enemy, and Pakistan as its friend. Indian leaders were quite aware that in the event of any India-Pak war, China will be on the side of Pakistan.

PM, Indira Gandhi, met with President, Nixon, seeking to prevent this oppression and brutality by Pakistan. Nixon replied, ” You shoot anyone crossing your borders.” Implicit in his reply was the fact that he will be in support of Pakistan only. The conversation led to a verbal duel with Nixon seriously admonishing the PM, Indira Gandhi.

Returning from America, Indira Gandhi sought to initiate manoeuvres of ” peace, friendship, and cooperation” with the Soviet Union. Internally in response to JP Narayan’s query of India’s response to the brutality in East Pakistan, a neighbouring nation, Indira Gandhi politely responded with these words : ” please wait for sometime patiently”.

Indira Gandhi then called General Sam Manekshaw to know if defence services will be ready for a war. General Sam Manekshaw replied, ” Always Ready”. Indira Gandhi wanted the first attack to be from Pakistan; and the end result to be India’s victory. This is what Finally happened, ” A VICTORY FOR INDIA”.

Yahya Khan began the war expecting the support of America and China on December 3, 1971. Pakistan Airforce attacked the Indian Airforce Site. They were destroyed and driven away by the Indian Airforce. India also retaliated with defeats to the intruding Pakistan Army in Kashmir. India then entered East Pakistan with its army ably supported by the ” Mukti Bahini” forces of East Pakistan and defeated the Pakistan army clearly. Indian Military Lt General, Jagjit Singh Aurora made a call and warning to Pakistan to surrender within 48 hours. Pakistan Lt General, AAK Niyazi and his army of 93000 soldiers surrendered unconditionally making this “WAR” the greatest “VICTORY” after the Second World War in history. The war was over in just 14 days. December 16, 1971, became the Liberation Day.

Celebrating this victory, Indian PM, Indira Gandhi declared in the Parliament, ” Bangladesh is now born ; Dhaka has become it’s Capital ; Sheikh Mujibur Rahman becomes the First PM of Bangladesh ; Greetings to the PM and people of Bangladesh “. She also added, ” Our Generals of Army, Navy, and Airforce together with their soldiers, and the Border Security Forces are responsible for our Victory ; Let us all bow to their valour and sacrifices “.

It was not surprising that the Indian Opposition Leader, Atal Behari Vajpayee held Indira Gandhi as the image of, “Mother Parashakthi” for standing up firmly to thwart the sinister moves of Pakistan. The combined attack of India’s military, Navy, and Airforce alongside the “Mukti Bahini” were responsible for the creation of Bangladesh. General Sam Manekshaw stands tall in the heart of every Indian..

The history of formation of Bangladesh is not an ordinary one. Religion, Language, and Indian Cooperation makes the triad constituting the establishment of a revolutionary “BANGLADESH”.

Creation of Bangladesh enhanced the pride of India in the WORLD. Today marks the completion of 50 years of the formation of Bangladesh. Even amidst the highs and lows of our relationship in these years we cannot forget the characteristics of our people resembling them just as water changes its nature from the nature of the soil it flows..

Some of those responsible for the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman have not been punished yet ; and the increasing voices against India and Hindus in Bangladesh are agonising and harrowing to say the least.

Bangladesh should prosper ; relationship between India and Bangladesh must also gain further strength.

This is the expectation of every Indian today..

” Dieu avec nous ”

Thursday, December 16, 2021 – 3.19 p.m. (IST)

Tidbit : ” Great countries are those that produce great people “. – Benjamin Disraeli.

” India Needs to Move from ‘Brain Drain’ to ‘Brain Gain’ ” – December 4, 2021.

The beginning of this decade (2021) marked the historic event in American history of an immigrant Indian woman taking on the mantle of the Vice-President, one could have never imagined. Records and accomplishments of immigrant Indians in America make the entire world discover and confirm the astonishingly impressive command presented by them. The latest entry into this brilliant, celebrated, and distinguished achievers is Parag Agrawal of ‘Twitter’ who became its CEO last week.

The academic and professional progress of Parag Agrawal (he holds a BTech from IIT Bombay ; and MS, PhD from Stanford University) leading to the credited recognition of CEO makes India proud as much as it makes the preference accorded to the talent and efficiency congratulatory in American society. The fact that Indians have been able to etch their impressions in most sectors of the economy besides being the leading CEOs of at least seven prestigious organisations cannot be easily dismissed.

If Sundar Pichai of Alphabet Inc. ( born June 10, 1972) ; Satya Nadella of Microsoft (born, August 19, 1967); Arvind Krishna of IBM ( born, 1962); Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Inc. ( born, May 27, 1963); Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks ( born, Feb 9, 1968); Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks (born, March 27, 1961); and now Parag Agrawal of Twitter ( born, May 21, 1984) hold the CEO positions in organisations, many like them also hold their prestigious positions in Computer/Software organisations. About 30% of Future 500 organisations boasted Indian Leadership in 2018. It may have certainly been more now. This has to be viewed as the symbol of Indians transforming themselves as ‘Key Opinion Leaders’ in America, a pride in itself.

Gone were the periods when Indians leaving their shores seeking greener pastures in foreign land dubbed as “Brain Drain” in general discussions ( foreigners termed that as “Body Shopping” sarcastically). Now every family here wants to send its child/children abroad. Americans are bewildered, dumbfounded, and even frightened at the talent of Indians.

Even though the above facts make for India’s pride, the sadness behind this cannot be erased from our memories.

While America opens its doors for external talent, we do not take advantage of the same within our country in a glaring paradox. It cannot but be blamed on the misunderstanding and short-sightedness of our leaders. The respect and living comforts/conveniences that Sundar Pichai or Satya Nadella have earned are sadly absent in India – also a bitter truth.

The hard work and effort put in by Indians in America cannot be understated even as it is glaring that the same talent, hard work, and efforts would not have given similar levels of success here. It is obvious that not fostering and nurturing the capacity to think; not providing encouragement and opportunities to fructify their thoughts ; and not supporting with financial and technical resources to put to fruition combined with large scale reservations to various categories of people stifle the success while leading to the export of the ‘talented’.

We do not have as yet any Premier Technical Institution(s) ; administrative management institution(s) ; and Universities in the list of First 100 institutions of the World. If some of those from these very institutions can make a refulgent glow in their careers abroad, it only sets our thinking wrong – a reality that strikes at the face of the educators and leaders.

Globalisation has given a tremendous fillip to the educational and employment opportunities abroad. And people are certainly migrating. If this continues our dreams of becoming a “Superpower” will remain only in dreams.

The educational and professional prosperity of such people – be it in the case of Indira Nooyi or Kamala Harris or Sundar Pichai or Satya Nadella – would not have been possible in India. We could neither retain them nor could utilise their wealth of knowledge in India.

India’s Loss is America’s Gain.

” Dieu avec nous”

Saturday, December 4, 2021 – 8.39 p.m. (IST).

Tidbit : ” India is a country with rich brains and unfortunately they brain drain”.

” Prime time news anchor of CNN, Chris Cuomo, suspended” – December 1, 2021.

” CNN has suspended prime time news anchor, Chris Cuomo, ‘indefinitely pending further evaluation ‘ after the revelation of the improper nature of his relationship with aides to his brother, Former NY Governor, Andrew Cuomo “.

Chris Cuomo said, ” Family is more important than job”, while accepting some of the charges. It can’t be more than true and justifiable in life for everyone.

After retirement and even while announcing early/premature retirement in Sports, Movies, Entertainment and few other fields we are familiar with reasons emerging from individuals concerned about life, family, and retirement as priorities. Management students and personnel may have heard this aspect more frequently in LEADERSHIP and JOB DECISIONS.

Chris Cuomo’s case is different in that he has been suspended for his wrongdoing. But his reaction is common. There will be some investigations and soon a final clear decision.

I have this small account to record on this issue :

1. 1. For a lot of time during his career at CNN ( since 2013) he has been gushing at his vibes into accomplishments at work, may be even at the expense of his family. He has been work centered clearly.
2. 2. He has been a popular, very effective, and well regarded prime time news anchor at work in CNN.
3. 3. I have been regularly watching the three some – Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, and Don Lemon – for a few years now and I could not afford to miss Cuomo’s coverage, specially the following :
4. 
5. (a) the news he continued to broadcast from his home when he contracted COVID – 19 in March ( sprinkling his own personal account of symptoms, testing, fears, and the nature of the spread). It was his family that stood by him strongly then.
6. 
7. (b) the coverage based on his personal visit to the border areas looking at the life of migrants who had camped near US-Mexico border when the then President, Donald Trump, threatened to close the borders ; and
9. 
10. (c) the pretty amazing and novel use of the Whiteboard with bullet points explaining the sequence of events like a well trained ACADEMICIAN during his prime time coverages .
11. CNN can certainly move on without Chris Cuomo as would any organisation without any individual, howsoever, critical he is to business. No one is irreplaceable. Chris cuomo will now be focusing on winning the support of his team and other groups of people within the network. His job and career may change. But he will certainly have his family with him and for him it will be more important than anything else now.
12. ” Dieu avec nous “
13. December 1, 2021 – 12.29 p.m. (IST)
14. Tidbit : ” God’s judgment is not like man’s judgment “.