Ground Reality

Ever since, Sprawling bungalow,10 Raja Ji Marg  , was allotted to Minister of state for tourism and culture  Mahesh Sharma,memories of the bungalow emerge like a flashback in my mind as it was not long  ago that I had an opportunity to remain closeted with visionary scientist and former President of India APJ  Abdul  Kalam, an embodiment of wisdom and humility. During the one to  one interaction,Dr Kalam spoke gently and discussed threadbare role of young minds in shaping institutions and nations . Tranquility in the bungalow environs was palpable and soothing.vibes emanating in his gracious presence were highly positive. Dr Mahesh Sharma ,known for a controversial remark that “Kalam was a nationalist and humanist despite being a Muslim  will be the new occupant  there and the dignity of the place has to maintained.The culture minister says he has lot of respect for Kalam Sahib and walls of the house will keep his memories and ideals alive for him. My interaction with  Dr kala

Known for  natural lustre and rough texture, Khadi strands  of late have turned   livewire in more ways than one, due to increasing footfalls at khadi, growing  sales  and demands  for technological upgradation, decent payment and working environs  to weavers and bridling cost of the fibre. Debates veer around whirring wheels of Charkhas. Leading from the front, Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  who had  launched   Khadi promotion blitz in his talk shows on radio, waves  a year ago, says the sales have almost doubled and more and more people purchase Khadi items now. Disputing  the government’s claims, many say hype was being created by raising bogey of sales. Khadi  and village industries top rung officials, keeping track of its sales and purchases across the country, wave ledgers to assert that purchases might be even  higher than what had been collated by them so far. In “Mann ki Baat” last year, Mr Modi had called upon people to buy at least one Khadi garment. He recently r

MSMEs charter growth flight  India has gained by four notches in the word Bank's ranking of Ease of Doing Business. It has moved to revised rank of 134 and 12 places  over the original ranking of 142 last year. The latest ranking puts India at 130  position out of 189 countries.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tweeted that it would provide boost to "Make in India",but Finance Minister Arun Jaitley opines  that the ranking does not fully reflect the slew of reforms taken by the government.   In MSME sector too, a string of reforms have been initiated and if all taken into account, the ranking will improve ,but the goal of being in the first 50 is a distant one but not impossible in a few years time, experts feel quoting recent reforms for MSMEs.    Amid sprouting of a multitude of start-ups, the MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sector appears to be on the cusp of sharp growth with the government’s plans aimed at giving a fillip to the sector

    Never in the past, campaigning  in state assembly polls and General elections in the world’s most populous democracy was so bitter and ugly as it was heard and witnessed in the ongoing Bihar state assembly polls for which third phase voting  was held today.  Now, Two phases of voting are left -fourth phase on Nov 1 and last & Final phase on Nov 5. Results will be out on Nov 8 –three days ahead of  Deepawali festival. Both the sides –National Democratic Alliance and Maha-gathbandhan of the Ruling Janata dal (U) in state ,Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Congress launched no holds barred campaign and the mud slinging was at its worst. Other players in the ring are also contributing their bit in dirty campaign.   A Day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s parody from “Three Idiots”movie that “Kahan Gaya Usse Dhundho-Bahati Hawa Sa Tha Wo,Gujarat Se Aya Tha Wo,Kala Dhan Lane Wala Tha Wo,Khan Gaya Usse  Dhundho,Hamko Desh Ki C

SRCM’s Heartfulness on Meditation goes viral       There was nip in the Delhi air on this Sunday morning as we drove to Gurgaon for a meditation session in  a sprawling campus .Every  one was hurrying to catch a  quite  corner for the session which was to be headed by the Ram Chandra  Mission’s  head Kamlesh Patel who had come from Chennai, and was camping there for a couple of days. Cutting across caste creed and age barriers, scores of people were heading for the session as locals around the SRCM ashram were dumbfounded due to  palpable tranquility in the air despite marching crowd of people which included both women and men of all ages.       The Mission Chief appeared on the dais and started transmission for the mediation during which there was a pin drop silence and each one of the participating "Abhayasis" looked fully absorbed and relaxed during the 50 minutes exercise.Bliss fullness was writ large on the faces and a gentle voice on the microphone