Tag: Tata

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-41

About: the world this week, 6 October to 12 October 2024: Israel’s War; India’s Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir; Deadly Air Show in Chennai; West Bengal Doctors; and ta-ta Ratan N Tata.

Everywhere

Israel in Lebanon: What Next?

The suspense over Israel’s ‘revenge attack’ on Iran’s unwarranted 200 missile rain on Israel continues. Will Israel take down Iran’s nuclear facilities? Or will it be the Oil Fields? Will it be weapons facilities? Or will it be something the Middle East has never seen before? Thinking on the same lines, Israel has said, “the strike on Iran will be precise and unexpected; they won’t know what hit them”.

Meanwhile, Israel marked the 1st Anniversary of Hamas’ barbarism of 7th October 2023 by pounding Hezbollah bases in Southern Lebanon, to pre-empt attacks on its people in northern Israel. The ground forces discovered the ‘signature terror tunnels’ in Lebanon too-one even crossed the border into Israel. And Hezbollah still keeps slipping those rockets into Israel despite its leadership being in complete disarray. Nobody wants to be the Chief – that’s an easy Israeli target.

There are still about 101 hostages struggling in Hamas’ tunnels of hell in the Gaza Strip. And the fighting goes on.

India’s Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir

Counting of votes in the just concluded State Elections in India’s Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and Haryana took place on 8th October. The results were shocking and beyond expectations, knocking the wind out of the sails of India’s Grand Old Party, the Congress, which believed that it would, without doubt, win. The unexpected results could probably be the final nail in the coffin of the exit poll industry.

Opinion polls predicted a ‘hand’some victory for the Congress – only the margin was debatable. In the end, the Congress finished with 37 seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) comfortable majority of 48 seats in the 90 member Legislature. The BJP ducked the loud anti-incumbency factor and created history by winning a third consecutive term. This is unprecedented and record breaking. Haryana has become the 5th state where the BJP has won three elections back-to-back. Other States being, Goa, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh.

In J&K, no party could secure a majority on its own and it will be a coalition with the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC)’s 42 seats and Congress’ 6 seats adding up to form a Government. The winner was actually the BJP coming-up with its best performance in the State so far, grabbing a vote share of 25.64% and winning 29 seats. The JKNC secured a vote share of 23.43% and the Congress 11.97%.

The fluent win in Haryana and the spirited fight in J&K destroyed the ghosts of the BJP’s unexpected loss in the Lok Sabha Elections where it fell short of a majority on its own and depends on allies to form the Government.

The renowned ‘Jalebi’ (a juicy sweet) in Haryana’s Gohana became an overnight sensation with Congress’ Rahul Gandhi campaigning that the BJP wasn’t allowing Jalebis to be made in factories. “If his(alluding to Mathu Ram – a famous sweets maker) Jalebi is and sold in other states and is also exported, then 20,000 – 50,000 people can work in his factory, one day”. Adding that traders like Mathu Ram have been hurt by the Centre’s tax policies.

The Jalebi is made of pure desi ghee, is crispy, yet soft. Each Jalebi tips the scales at 250gm and a box of four, about a kilogram costs Rs 320. The shelf life is about a week.

After the victory, the BJP promptly dispatched boxes of Jalebis to the Congress’ Offices. It’s not known how well they were received!

It was awfully disturbing that the Congress Party created a stir by refusing to accept the results blaming everybody except themselves for the poor showing and even the Electronic Voting Machines. They believed it was their right to win – victory ‘unfairly’ snatched away by the BJP. This has become a signature reaction of a falling, fumbling, and failing Congress.

Air Show: Death on the Ground

The Indian Air Force (IAF) was formally constituted on 8 October 1932, as an auxiliary force of Britain’s Royal Air Force. After India’s independence, this day came to be celebrated annually as the IAF Day. And various spectacular events such as Parades, Air Shows, and Exhibitions, that depicted the capabilities and advancements of the IAF are organised, to kindle and draw young Indians to join the IAF.

This year, 2024 – the 92nd IAF Day-the theme was, Bharatiya Vayu Sena- Saksham, Sashakt, Atmanirbhar (Potent, Powerful, Self-Reliant). In celebration, an Air Show was arranged on Sunday, 6th October, above Chennai’s iconic Marina Beach, in the space between the Lighthouse and Chennai Port. The clear blue Chennai sky was expected to provide a fascinating view of action in the skies.

The aerial display was indeed spectacular and captivating, showcasing the prowess and manoeuvrability of the IAF aircraft including the new supersonic Rafale. The Show commenced with the Special Guard Force commandos conducting a simulated rescue operation and freeing a hostage. Para-jump instructors making an accurate landing on the target area and the commandos slithering in to reach the target area held the spectators spellbound.

Nearly 72 aircraft took part, which is set to enter the Limca Book of World Records. About 50 aircraft indulged in a formation showering flares. Heritage aircraft, Dakota, Harvard, Tejas, Sukhoi Su-30, and Sarang participated in the aerial salute. The Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet performed the ‘Loop-tumble-yaw’ (rotating in mid-air while ascending at high speed) manoeuvre; the Suryakiran, the nation’s pride, the indigenously manufactured state-of-the-art Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, and Light Combat Helicopter Prachand took part in the flypast and aerial display.

The grand finale was a breathtaking performance by the Sarang helicopter display team that performed a stunning aerial manoeuvre. The Rafale streaking across the sky and demonstrating refuelling capability, and the Dakota in action was a sight to behold.

Meanwhile, on the ground about 15 lakh people had slowly gathered, trickling-in from as early as 7am in the morning. And began packing themselves like sardines into the beach, under the unfettered sun, in the suffocating October heat, upto the start of the show at 11am.

The India Meteorological Department’s Meenambakkam weather station, about 7 km away, recorded a maximum temperature of 34.3°C, a degree over normal and a relative humidity of 80%, with the two combining for a steep wet-bulb value of 31.26°C-a level at which prolonged exposure to the heat, such as attendees at the IAF event were subject to, can be fatal. Enthusiastic families had gathered on the sands of the Marina beach, many holding umbrellas to shield themselves from the blazing sun.

This perfect storm of unseemly weather and administrative lapses coalesced, when five people died and nearly 100 were hospitalised following the air show at the Marina Beach. The muggy Chennai weather catalysed the crisis.

The Tamil Nadu Government claimed it was well-prepared, but somehow the arrangements were not enough and found wanting in many dimensions. The State Chief Minister attributed the deaths to ‘extreme heat and various medical reasons;’ and said that although agencies coordinated to avoid crowding, the number of people was ‘much higher than expected’. That’s a revelation. Better luck next time?

West Bengal Doctors

This Monday, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its first charge-sheet in the horrific West Bengal, RG Kar Hospital, Kolkatta, rape and murder case, which shook the nation this August. It charged civic volunteer, Sanjoy Roy-who was almost immediately arrested after the incident came to light-with the rape and murder of the trainee doctor. There was no mention of a gang rape and Roy was the only accused. The charge-sheet detailed the circumstances, nature of injuries, cause of death, and produced irrefutable evidence to pin-down Roy: examination by the Courts, and a final judgement is awaited.

On Tuesday, at least 48 senior doctors and faculty of the RG Kar Hospital submitted a mass resignation letter, and those at two other State-run facilities threatened a similar move, in support of the junior medics who have been observing an indefinite hunger strike since last week, demanding justice and better safety measures. By Wednesday, the stir by doctors intensified further with more senior doctors in various State-run hospitals tendering their resignation and junior doctors planning to take their protest to other parts of Kolkata.

Ratan Naval Tata: Titan Industrialist – a ‘Noble’ Legend

When asked on how he would like to be remembered Ratan Tata famously said, ‘I’d like to be remembered as a person who made a difference. Not anything more, not anything less”.

This week, the head of India’s foremost Industries behemoth – Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons – of the Tata Group of Companies passed away at the ripe old age of 86-due to old age related problems.

When Ratan Tata took over the Tata Empire in 1991 from JRD Tata, at the age of 53, it was run by ‘warlords’ with each one jealously guarding his fiefdom and smacking their knuckles at the new Tata kid on the block. Ratan faced stiff resistance from the heads of various subsidiaries, who had a large amount of operational freedom under JRD Tata. One of Ratan’s first acts as Chairman was to bring down the ‘tough three’ satraps: Russi Modi of the Steel division; Ajit Kerkar heading the Taj Hotel chain; and Darbari Seth in Tata Chemicals. The three ruled their ‘kingdoms’ without permitting any interference from the Tata Group Head Office at Bombay House, in Mumbai.

In response, Ratan Tata implemented a number of policies designed to consolidate power, including the implementation of a retirement age, having subsidiaries report directly to the group office, and contribute their profit to building the Tata Group brand.

Gradually, from a shy, under confident youth, whose credentials as a business executive were uninspiring at the start, Ratan blossomed into a larger-than-life chairperson of the Tata Group. He gave the Tata Group new visibility and prominence through a series of bold gambles. The simple ’T & wreath of leaves’ Tata logo got a trendy makeover, transforming into an oval blue tree of knowledge – a fluidity logo.

The year 1991 was also the year that the Licence Raj ended in India and path-breaking reforms were unleashed, which would forever change business in India.

Ratan Tata had worked his way up from the Shop Floor of Tata Steel and on rising up the ranks to a managerial Level had turned around a Tata Group subsidiary – National Radio and Electronics (NELCO) only to see it collapse during an economic slowdown.

During the 21 years Ratan led the Tata Group, revenue grew over 40 times, and profit over 50 times. When he took over, sales overwhelmingly comprised commodity sales, but at the end of his tenure, the majority of sales came from brands. He had Tata Tea acquire Tetley, Tata Motors acquire Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel acquire Corus. These acquisitions repositioned Tata from a largely India-centric group into a cohesive global business, with over 65% of revenues coming from operations and sales internationally.

During his period, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) founded in 1968 by FC Kholi – widely acknowledged as the father of Indian Information Technology -grew phenomenally, entering the software industry, and later with S Ramadorai at the helm it became the kingpin of the Tata Group’s revenues. Ratan Tata boldly made TCS public in 2004, though keeping the majority of shares with Tata Sons.

Ratan Tata conceptualised and spearheaded Tata’s foray into passenger car manufacturing in India, first with the Tata Indica and then the Tata Nano. Even before this, he tinkered with cars, launching the Tata Estate and the Tata Safari, riding on the back of Tata Motors, which was already a formidable player in the Truck market in India making Trucks, Buses, and Vans.

As on 2023, Tata has products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continents. The combined market capitalisation of Tata Companies is USD 365 Billion as on 31 March 2024. Its revenue was more than USD 165 Billion in 2023-24.

Ratan Tata through the Tata Trusts contributes liberally to philanthropy supporting various programmes in education, medicine, and rural development.

Ratan Tata was the son of Naval Tata, who was adopted by Ratanji Tata, the son of the Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group, who, besides several other pioneering ventures, envisaged India’s first steel mill, first hydroelectric plant and the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru.

Ratan Tata graduated from America’s Cornell University’s College of Architecture with a bachelor’s degree in architecture. He joined the Tata Group in 1961, where he began his career, first working on the shop floor of Tata Steel.

JRD Tata famously started India’s first Airline, Tata Airlines, which later became Air India after being taken over by the Government, and returned to the Tata fold in a privatisation move during Ratan Tata’s tenure.

Jamsetji Tata, the founder, had two sons Dorabji Tata and Ratanji Tata who died childless; hence ‘enter the future Titan’, after JRD Tata – a first cousin of Ratanji Tata- who was also childless.

In 1948, when Ratan Tata was 10, his parents separated, and he was then adopted and raised by Navajbai Tata, his grandmother and widow of Ratanji Tata. He has a younger brother Jimmy Tata, and a half-brother, Noel Tata, from Naval Tata’s second marriage to Simone Dunoyer -Simone Tata – who became his stepmother. His biological mother was Soonoo Tata-the niece of Tata group founder Jamsetji Tata.

While in the United States he fell in love with a girl in Los Angeles but had to return to India due to his grandmother’s illness and could not progress the relationship to marriage. The girls’s parents refused to allow her to come to India at the time of the 1962 Indo-China war. Ratan Tata never married and had no children. In 2011, he said, “I came close to getting married four times and each time I backed off in fear or for one reason or another”.

Ratan Tata was known as an animal lover. His last venture was the Small Animal Hospital (SAHM), a clinic dedicated to pets, in Mumbai. It was the first of its kind in the country, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. He once skipped a prestigious lifetime philanthropic achievement award function in the United Kingdom as one of his dogs- Tango and Tito – had fallen ill and he could not leave. Then there is the story of ‘Goa’, a stray puppy that managed to climb into a colleague’s car in Goa and ended up in Bombay House – where there is an in-house kennel and stray dogs are treated like Kings!

Not much is spoken about Ratan Tata’s incredible sense of humour. Once, when asked by a young girl in the audience on what excites him most, he retorted, “How can I answer that it public?” He is also known to have exceptional mimicry skills, besides painting.

Ratan epitomised the Tata tradition of simplicity, in both business and his personal life. His lifestyle was modest compared to India’s Business magnates. He had almost no security outside his home. His business exploits earned Ratan such adulatory titles as ‘India’s best brand ambassador’ and ‘A model of corporate responsibility’. The two major Tata trusts are among the world’s largest philanthropic enterprises of which he is the chairperson.

Ratan Tata was unquestionably India’s most respected businessman, even though by the standards of India’s wealthiest billionaires he was relatively poor. But by virtue of his position as chairperson of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which own 66% of Tata Sons, the holding company for India’s largest and most prestigious business house, he was more powerful than any other Indian businessman.

There is hardly any noteworthy scandal about him barring a mild hiccup over the unceremonious sacking of the previous Chairman of Tata Sons, which the Courts have said is OK. And there is a story of the Radia Tapes Controversy in the Tata Teleservices case, which issue did not have meat.

Everyone is saying a good man passed away. In the end Rata Tata was a genuinely good person. And has set an example. It’s up to us to follow.

The Tata Family and the Future

Ratan Tata’s half-sisters, Shireen and Deanna Jejeebhoy, are from their mother Soonoo’s second marriage to Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy. Information about their other sister, Geeta is unknown. Ratan Tata’s Half-brother, Noel Tata’s daughters, Leah Tata and Maya Tata are both involved in the Tata Group’s businesses. Leah works with the Indian Hotels Company Limited, while Maya, reportedly a favourite of Ratan Tata, has played a significant role in launching the Tata Neu App. Noel’s son Neville married Manasi Kirloskar, and they have two children, Jamset Tata and Tiana Tata. Neville focuses on Trent’s Zudio brand, while Manasi is involved in Kirloskar businesses.

Late in the week, Noel Tata was appointed as Chairman of Tata Trusts.

The Nobel Prizes are being announced and there are some interesting stories about them: that’s coming up new week.

More sweet and sour stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Stay with World Inthavaaram. Ta-ta.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-36

About –the stories of the world this week, 4 September to 10 September 2022: a Prime Minster, a Queen, a Turning Point, a City, new Vistas, and ta-ta to a Business Magnate.

Everywhere

Liz Truss

This week saw Britain inaugurate a new Prime Minister (PM), its 56th, Mary Elizabeth Truss (Liz Truss), 47, who became its third-ever female PM. She officially replaces Boris Johnson.

How did we get here?

In July 2022 Boris Johnson resigned as PM on losing the confidence of his Conservative Party. This generated a summer-long internal contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party with the two finalists being Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, 42. In the final voting, the results of which were announced this Monday, Truss won 81,326 votes to Rishi’s 60,399.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson carefully packed his bags, and with wife Carrie and sister Rachel looking on, among others, delivered his farewell speech outside Downing Street. This brought to end a tumultuous premiership of less than three years. Soon afterwards both Johnson and Truss travelled separately to meet the Queen who was resting at Balmoral Castle, a 50,000 acre Royal country estate, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Johnson arrived first and tendered his resignation to the Queen. Then Truss arrived to meet the Queen, and after exchange of greetings was officially appointed PM. Truss then returned to London to make her first speech as PM saying said she was honoured to take on the role “at a vital time for our country”.

What is the stuff Liz Truss is made of?

Liz Truss is a Member of Parliament from South West Norfolk constituency. She was educated at Roundhay School in Leeds and Oxford University. She is married to accountant Hugh O’Leary. The couple have two teenage daughters.

In her student days, Truss was involved in many campaigns and causes at Oxford but devoted much of her time to politics, becoming president of the university’s Liberal Democrats. At the party’s 1994 Conference in Brighton, she spoke in favour of abolishing the monarchy, telling delegates, “We Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all. We do not believe people are born to rule.” She also campaigned for the decriminalisation of cannabis.

Her conversion to Conservatism, towards the end of her time at Oxford shocked her left-leaning parents, but it appears to be a natural progression of sorts. But her promise to return to fundamental Conservative values -cutting taxes and shrinking the state-proved to be exactly what party members, who got the final say over who takes over from Johnson, wanted to hear. And, crucially, as Foreign Secretary she remained loyal to Johnson until the bitter end as other ministers deserted him, winning her favour with Johnson loyalists.

Grassroots Tory supporters of Truss see in her the steadfast, tenacious and determined qualities they admired in former PM Margaret Thatcher-an image Truss herself has tried to cultivate.

She was promoted by David Cameron to Environment Secretary and worked as Justice Secretary under Theresa May. She was eventually made Foreign Secretary by Boris Johnson in 2021. That’s the climb up the ladder.

With Liz Truss firmly, liberally and democratically installed, it’s a rare coincidence that Queen’s Rule came to an end later in the week.

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II, the oldest monarch in British history died at the age of 96. She passed away peacefully, this week, at Balmoral Castle where she had been spending the summer. With her death the longest monarchial reign in British history, stretching for over 70 years, comes to an end.

Recall, her first Prime Minister was Winston Churchill during his second stint in the 1950’s, and just the other day she appointed the newest PM, Liz Truss in 2022. And she has seen 15 PM’s march in and out, under her watch, all these years.

The Queen came to the throne in 1952 and witnessed enormous social change during her years on the Throne. As a 21 years old princess, Elizabeth had vowed to devote her life to service, and she did exactly that. She did the job for so long with enormous dedication that unquestionably deserved national respect in the United Kingdom. Reflecting on those words decades later, during her Silver Jubilee in 1977, she declared: “Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgment, I do not regret nor retract one word of it”.

The Queen engaged herself with the public through walkabouts, royal visits and attendance at public events. Her commitment to the Commonwealth was constant, visiting every Commonwealth country at least once. She was indeed a remarkable person. Elizabeth II The Great?

The Crown now passes to Prince Charles, who remained King-in-waiting for over 70 years. He finally becomes King at the age of 73. He automatically accedes to the throne as King Charles III of Britain and 14 other Commonwealth realms.

Prince Charles is also the oldest person ever to assume the British throne. The record was previously held by William-IV at age 64. As Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay from 1952 to his accession, Charles was the oldest and the longest-serving heir apparent in British history, and the longest-serving Prince of Wales, having held the title from 26 July 1958 until his accession.

The next in line to the throne is Prince William. And the waiting list is packed with possible future Kings.

Perhaps this is the end of a Queen’s Rule: will it always be a King, from hereon? The King’s Stand in the making? There is the Coronation to look forward to. And the King’s better-half will be called Queen Consort.

The United Kingdom has a New Prime Minister and a New King – both beginning their reign at about the same time.

Turning Point

In the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War, this week, Ukraine’s Army launched a surprise offensive in the country’s north-eastern Kharkiv province. And has met with spectacular success. President Volodymyr Zelensky said his armies liberated 1,000 square kilometres of territory from Russia. Could this be a turning point?

Bengaluru

While nearby Pakistan was diving underwater, India seemed well above until incessant rains in the Southern City of Bengaluru called the Silicon Valley of India, became a mountain of water. This is was mainly in the new ‘under-development areas’ where construction was happening at a rapid pace. And the older parts of the City such as the Electronics City stood their ground and stayed dry.

While the bulldozer became hugely popular in the North of India its first-cousin, the Tractor-Tailer, became a local hero and helped drive people to work and even evacuate stranded passengers at the Bengaluru International Airport. Who said we need boats? Tractors can swim.

Central Vista

In India’s Capital New Delhi, the Government set itself the objective of improving the productivity and efficiency of administration by creating highly functional and purpose-designed office infrastructure, which it called the Central Vista Redevelopment Master Plan. In the process it also sought to erase signposts of the British colonial past and showcase a vibrant, emerging India.

The Central Vista Redevelopment Project started construction works on 4 February 2021 and is planned to be completed in 2026, in phases.

This week India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the newly christened ‘Kartavya Path’ (Path of duty) earlier known as Rajpath and formerly called Kingsway, which is the ceremonial boulevard that runs from Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill, through Vijay Chowk and India Gate, National War Memorial to National Stadium, New Delhi. It is one of the most important roads in India, and where the annual Republic Day parade takes. He also unveiled a 28feet statue of legendary freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate.

The beauty of the Central Vista is a sight to behold and once completed it would radiate the hallowed spirit of India.

Ta-ta

In a shocking accident, early this week, the ex-Chairman of India’s prestigious home-grown Tata Group, a major share-holder of the Group and a Business Tycoon in his own right, Cyrus Mistry, 53, died in a road accident. His Mercedes Benz car hit a road divider and crashed following which he along with another passenger, Jehangir Pandole, sitting in the rear seats were killed. Both were not wearing seat belts, as is ‘common in India’ for rear-seat passengers, despite Seat-Belt Rules being absolutely clear that it applies to the front and rear seats.

The front seat passengers – a woman doctor Anahita Pandole, 55, who was at the wheel, and her husband Darius Pandole, 60-survived with multiple injuries and have been hospitalised in Mumbai. They were wearing seat belts, and the safety air-bags did their job.

The four were travelling in a Mercedes GLC 220d 4MATIC car to Mumbai from Ahmadabad when the accident occurred at the Surya River bridge in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, where there were two bridges (at different levels) alongside each other, and both were for traffic going in the same direction. And further up three lanes merge into two lanes. It appears that Anahita Pundole suddenly swerved into the left side parapet of the bridge, and perhaps a truck must have been blocking the right side lane, and she tried to overtake from the left, as is the standard norm and practice on this highway. There were no signs of braking and tyre marks show that the Mercedes turned left to overtake, and unexpectedly encountered the bridge’s wall.

A study conducted on possible reasons concluded that there was an infrastructure issue that was the primary cause: the bridge parapet wall was found to be protruding into the shoulder lane.

There we are: Not wearing seat belts, no lane discipline-Road Rules crushed and buried-poor design of Infrastructure, and I would add lousy signage. Important lessons out there in driving and staying alive on Indian roads.

More thrilling stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Fasten your seat-belts and ride the world with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-41

About: the world this week, 3 October to 9 October 2021, opening Pandora’s box, sexual transgressions in a religious establishment, violence in an Indian State, a vaccine for Malaria, the Nobel Prizes, and an Airline returns home.

Everywhere

In Greek mythology, the first woman created by the Gods was called Pandora. The Gods gave her a closed box, which they said contained special gifts, and which, they warned, was never ever to be opened – The Gods temptingly do this all the time in different stories in various religions.

’Curiosity killed the cat’ goes the age-old saying. And one bright day the ever curious Pandora decided to see what’s inside the box, after all. She opened the box, and to her dismay found every kind of evil – greed, envy, hatred, pain, disease, hunger, poverty, war, and death, etc.,- which ails mankind today, flying out into the-until then-peaceful world, sowing the seeds of constant discord and turmoil. Pandora quickly gathered her wits and just managed to slam-shut the box – you guessed it – before the only remaining ‘gift’ – Hope – could escape. That means, whatever challenges mankind faces and problems he is confronted with, hope always remains. And there is always a chance that we can make good and move ahead. There is also another message: some secrets are best kept secret. And we should keep our own Pandora’s boxes tightly shut forever! Pandora’s Box now means anything that is best left untouched, for fear of what might come out of it.

Getting rich, famous, and powerful is not easy on Earth and it is a chequered, riddled, and often secretive path. Now the secret deals and hidden assets of some of the world’s richest and most powerful people have been revealed in the biggest leak of offshore data, in history. Branded the Pandora Papers, the cache consists of about 11.9 million files (comprising 2.9 terabytes of data) from companies hired by wealthy clients to create offshore structures and trusts in tax havens such as Panama, Dubai, Monaco, Switzerland, and the Cayman Islands.

The Pandora Papers was published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) beginning on 3 October 2021. The leak exposed the secret offshore accounts of 35 world leaders, including current and former Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Heads of State as well as more than 100 billionaires, celebrities, and business leaders. They also shine a light on the dark finances of more than 300 other public officials such as government ministers, judges, mayors and military generals, in more than 90 countries.

The news organisations of the ICIJ described the document leak as their most expansive expose of financial secrecy yet in nations, surpassing their previous release of the Panama Papers in 2016, which had 11.5 million confidential documents.

Now, onto another Pandora opening.

The Roman Catholic Church has been under tremendous fire, in the recent past, over sexual abuse scandals – often involving children – rocking the worldwide establishment.

Speaking at the release of a lengthy report into sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church, this Tuesday, the head of a Panel investigating abuses by Church members, says French Catholic priests abused 216,000 victims since 1950. The number could rise to 330,000, when abuse by lay members of the Church was included. One victim called the report a turning point in France’s history.

The French inquiry was commissioned by the French Catholic Church in 2018. It spent more than two-and-a-half years combing through court, police, and church records, and speaking to victims and witnesses. It said that until the early 2000s, the Catholic Church had showed a profound and even cruel indifference towards the victims. The commission found evidence of a minimum of 2,900 to 3,200 abusers – out of a total of 115,000 priests and other clerics. Its report, which is nearly 2,500 pages long, says the vast majority of victims were pre-adolescent boys from a wide variety of social backgrounds. The Catholic Church is, after the circle of family and friends, is the environment that has the highest prevalence of sexual violence.

The report is certainly damning and the Church needs to wake up, confess and make course corrections. The Pope actually heard me: he said that this is a ‘moment of shame’ and called upon leaders of the Church to ensure that ‘similar tragedies’ never happen again.

This week, a region called Lakhimpuri Kheri stormed the headlines of India and is still running berserk.

Lakhimpur Kheri is the largest of 75 districts in the State of Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, and borders Nepal. Its capital is the city of Lakhimpur. Kheri is a town about two kilometres from Lakhimpur.

This Sunday, one of UP’s Deputy Chief Ministers, Keshav Prasad Maurya along with Union Minister of State for Home, Ajay Mishra Teni were scheduled to visit Lakhimpur Kheri District to lay foundation stones for upcoming Government Schemes in the area. The plan was to arrive by helicopter at a makeshift helipad in Tikonia and drive to the Tikonia-Banbirpur Road for the event(s).

A farmers group, which was against the implementation of the path-breaking, new Farm Laws – passed by India’s Parliament – apparently chose the occasion to register a protest against a recent statement made by Ajay Mishra Teni against farmer leaders. And to protest the Farm Laws as well.

Around 300 farmers from nearby villages gathered in Tikonia and gheraoed the helipad, holding black flags. The Deputy Chief Minister got wind of the brewing problem, changed plans and chose to reach the Tikonia-Banbirpur Road, by road, instead.

The protesters, in turn, learnt about the change and spilled themselves on to the road to keep-up their drive. This brought them into direct confrontation with a convoy of cars, which was heading to welcome the visiting dignities and participate in the event.

What followed in unclear – with the protestors and the Government shouting out their own versions- and in the senseless melee that followed eight people were left dead. Videos showed Farmers pelting stones on the convoy; a car ramming in to the people and running over a few of them; a man being mercilessly lynched; a vehicle being set ablaze. And suddenly uncontrolled violence took the drivers seat; Politicians are all over the place stirring the cauldron and making links to their own parochial agendas.

I quote Editor, Author, and Publisher Minaz Merchant, “The Lakhimpur Kheri violence unpeels what is right and wrong with our journalism. The facts remain blurred behind conflicting video images. The narrative can, therefore, be easily fixed. The first principle of journalism is getting the facts right. The second principle is speaking truth to power.” None of these principles appear to have adhered to.

An investigation has been ordered into the sequence of events and it’s better we wait until they uncover the facts of the gory incident.

Protesting is a right in a democracy of our kind, but violence in any form is simply unacceptable – including protesting in other than peaceful ways, throwing stones, and running over people.

Meanwhile, there is an alarming increase in another kind of violence in the Indian State of Kashmir – the targeted killing of Hindus and Sikhs by jihadi terrorists from across the border. Seven civilians were murdered in cold blood this week: on Tuesday, a Kashmiri Pandit businessman was shot dead in his pharmacy while a street food vendor and the president of a taxi stand were also gunned down. Then terrorists stormed into a government school in Srinagar and shot dead the Principal and a teacher who were from the Sikh and Hindu communities.

We all, especially Politicians and Journalists, need to be more outraged and vocal in such targeted killings. Kashmir must heal and return to normalcy.

Heal we must from disease too. Malaria, the mosquito-borne disease, has been around for millions of years. It is one of the world’s oldest and deadliest: up to 30 million years old! It kills over 400,000 people each year, and can seriously weaken the immune systems of those who survive it. Nearly 95% of malaria deaths happen in Africa – mainly among children under five years. Mosquitoes thrive in sub-Saharan Africa in part because of its mosquito-friendly tropical climate. And the region’s been waiting for a miracle.

There is no vaccine for Malaria, but well into the COVID-19 regime when Vaccine is a word we have learnt by heart and thanks to Pandora’s hope we might finally have a Vaccine for malaria – the miracle is here!

In a historic move, the World Health Organization (WHO) backed the world’s first malaria vaccine for children. After decades of research, the vaccine named Mosquirix got the green light for distribution in Africa and other high-risk regions. Also called RTS,S, the vaccine has been more than 30 years in the making. Created by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in 1987, it was subsequently developed and tested with support and funding from PATH, (formerly known as the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), a Seattle-based global health group, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Whatever, the WHO still suggests using things like medications and insecticide-treated bed nets and other preventive measures we have been using all along to keep those pesky, buzzing insects away from our skin.

In recent years, lack of funding and political support have snagged malaria eradication efforts around the world. And while there are still some unknowns with Mosquirix, the world’s celebrating a scientific breakthrough that could save millions of lives.

The Nobel Prizes for 2021 are being rolled out and the winners announced this week by Swiss based, The Nobel Foundation.

Ardem Patapoutian and David Julius won the Nobel for Physiology or Medicine ‘for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch’; Benjamin List and David MacMillan received the Nobel for Chemistry ‘for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis’ – a tool for molecule building.

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded ‘for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex systems’: to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann ‘for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability, and reliably predicting global warming’, and to Giorgio Parisi, ‘for discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scale’.

Maria Tessa and Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize ‘for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace’.

The Nobel for Literature was awarded to Abdulrazak Gurnah, ‘for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents’

Abdulrazak is a Zanzibar born Tanzanian novelist living in the United Kingdom. He began writing as a 21 year old English exile and even though Swahili was his first language, English became his means of expression. He is the author of ten novels and several short stories and essays with the theme of refugee disruption running through most of his work. Some of which are, Memory of Departure, 1987, By the Sea 2001, Gravel Heart, 2017, and Afterlives, 2020.

Only the Nobel for Economics – not on the original Nobel list – and called The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences has not been awarded as yet. The winner is expected to be announced in the upcoming week. I reckon they are still working out the equations?

Many are not very impressed by the Awards. Said one, “In terms of the gap between the world’s population and the winners – the biggest gap is a gender one. The number of female prize winners is really, really tiny.”

Should we look at everything through a male or female tinted magnifying glass? May the best person win – based on the exacting selection standards of the Nobel Foundation, on outstanding excellence achieved by humankind to improve life on Earth.

The Tata Group is one of India’s largest and most respected privately run salt-to-software business conglomerate. I would call them the original pioneers of Make-In-India. The Tatas also started India’s first Airline, Tata Airlines, before it was nationalised and became Air India. It was once the world’s best Airline, under the Tatas.

Now, after 70 years Air India flew back to the hanger of the Tatas – becoming the winning bidder for the debt-laden state-run airline. This comes on the wings of the Government’s strategy of not being in the business of business. Way to go!

More, once boxed-up stories are flying out with World Inthavaaram. Stay with hope! Fly with Tata.