Innovation, which is advancement over an existing product or idea, is a prerequisite for continuous improvement. But a disruptive innovation shakes up an industry once in a while. Disruptive innovation in business is not a new concept. It took birth in 1995 when it was proposed by one of the world’s leading thinkers on innovation Christensen along with his co-authors.

However, over the years, this concept has been misunderstood. It has generally been misapplied to a situation where the industry norms are shaken up and existing players stirred. And here’s where the catch is. Originally, Christensen ideated the concept of disruption, more like a David and Goliath situation– a smaller company with fewer resources successfully challenging an established business.

Established businesses in their effort to retain their existing majority target customer base, focus mainly on improving their present products or services and largely ignore other market segments. New entrants that sense this gap provide products or services lucrative to the overlooked segments.

While the established businesses do not pay heed to these new entrants, they slowly make inroads into upmarket, providing the same products or services to the majority customers whilst retaining their earlier advantage–lower prices. Once these mainstream customers embrace the new products or services, in large quantities, one can say disruption has occurred.

According to Christensen, potential for disruptive innovations arise because established businesses ignore both low-end and new markets. In an attempt to be more profitable, established businesses concentrate on providing mainstream customers with high quality products and services and commit resources in upgrading, enhancing and perfecting their existing products and services, all the while ignoring the low-end market. Sensing this opportunity, new entrants foray into this gap by using a low-cost business model. A low-end disruptor snatches the market share in this segment and pushes the established businesses upmarket. Additionally, disruption can occur by creating new markets where none existed, by developing new products for consumers, at a lower price and an acceptable quality. Arrival of personal computers, and later smartphones are perfect examples of new-market disruption.

The first computers, known as mainframes, were huge and very expensive. With costs as high as $2 million and size as big as to fill an entire room, computing technology was out of bounds for the common man. With the invention of the personal computer, a small and affordable piece of machine, a new market segment of individuals was created.

Over the years, with continuous improvement in its capabilities, a humble personal computer made the mainframe computers virtually obsolete. The next step in new market disruption is the emergence of smartphones, which are creating disruptions at two levels. One, the ability to use the internet in a phone at a fraction of cost of a personal computer is making usage of personal computers less necessary. Two, smartphone photograph taking capabilities are set to disrupt the digital photography industry.

However, over the years, the above concept has been misused by many who have not given serious thought to the notion itself. Internationally, Uber has been touted as a disruption. It uses mobile applications to connect consumers who need rides with drivers who are willing to provide them. Founded in 2009, the company has enjoyed fantastic growth and is still expanding. It has reported tremendous financial success, with funding rounds and soaring valuation. No doubt, Uber has transformed the business of transportation.

But has it brought about disruption? For disruption to happen, a company has to target an overlooked customer base and provide the right fit of product or service, usually at a lower cost. Uber connected the end users, i.e., customers used to taking cab services, to service providers. So, Uber did not fulfill any of the two conditions to become a disrupter – firstly, it did not bring the market segment that did not use cab services into its fold; and secondly, cab and taxi services were definitely not a new market. Finally, there is no threat to the car industry from Uber.

A well-known quote prevalent in Silicon Valley “disrupt or be disrupted” says it all. All businesses are continuously looking for opportunities to become disruptors with new innovative ideas, products or business models. But only a few are able to become disruptors. Disruptive innovation transforms complex and expensive products or services into simple and reasonable options. Although very time-consuming and enormously risky, creating disruption shakes up the existing established products and services by pushing the boundaries of any industry.

( Hima Bindu Kota  The author is an educator, Article syndicated via The Pioneer )

Subhash Chandra Bose: A question of, by, and for the conscience of the people of Bharat.

Do not we the people of Bharat would like to enlighten ourselves with a book telling us about the post-1945 life of Subhash Chandra Bose but no conjectures of the same and guess what; the book is published by and endorsed by the government of Bharat? With this in mind let us traverse the realities.

The personas that have fought for the freedom of their respective countries have always been used by their descendants to reap international mileage and public support at home.

The political history and present state of affairs of any country shows how the present politicians use the past politicians to convince people that if the people lhad liked the past politicians then they have to love the present politicians because the present politicians are the replication of the past ones.

We find that our Subhash Babu and I will not use the title Netaji because Subhash Chandra Bose may be a leader to the world but to us, he is our Father, son, and brother respectively, and at the highest level, our Martyr and henceforth I shall call him as our Babu.

We find that Subhas Babu was eccentric, he was eccentric and unconventional to the  Congress propagation of independence through the prism of non-violence however Mr. Gandhi did direct the Bharatiya Soldiers to fight for the British in the second world war and also directed out of rhetoric to Jews and Britishers that let Germany slaughter even your women and children.

Subhas Babu lived, as he is not living today, a life of adventure, adventure for sake of Bharat not for his pleasure. Now, we do not have any official declaration on his life post-1945 even after the finding of the Mukherjee commission that Subhash Babu did not die in a plane crash. Yes, many files have been declassified but they do not draw a convincing picture of the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu.

Our Babu has become a subject matter of many films namely Bose: Dead/Alive and Gumnami and such films have negated the plane crash theory and even made our Babu remain alive till 1985. I do not want to delve into what is termed as conjecture about the life period of our Babu post-1945. Instead, I ask the following questions:

Why shall not the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu, if any, be declared by the government? The government says such disclosure will affect the sovereignty, integrity, and foreign relation of Bharat with other countries.

Now, why not then does the government defines what kind of consequence regarding sovereignty, integrity, and foreign relation will follow post-disclosure?

We have the official secret Act which prohibits the government's servants and citizens to disclose secret information not permitted by law for disclosure but such disclosure is been prohibited for anti-typing, therefore you cannot disclose the information of our Bharat to our enemies.

So, therefore does not such non-disclosure by the government show that the information about the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu is a piece of information that we do not want our enemies to know?

Now does such non-disclosure also show that our enemies are interested to know about Subhas Babu for destroying us?

Who are those enemies?

Or

Will the brand of Congress and Gandhi be in jeopardy if the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu is disclosed as they were the influencers in India when the alleged 1945 plane crash happened and the alleged demise of Subhas Babu/Gumnami Baba took place in 1985?

One may argue that if that be so, then the BJP party in power would have disclosed the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu exposing the Gandhi family and the congress.

The answer is that such disclosure will affect the brand of the Mahatama of Gandhi which the BJP also sells to spread peace and secularism.

 Therefore it appears that disclosure of the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu will be detrimental to the image of Bharat. But should not we expose that Bharat which suppressed her most valiant freedom fighter? Should not Bharat be punished who made the life of Subash Babu deleterious?

If Subhas Babu has lived after 1945, then he had lived with Pain. It is alleged that Gumnami Babi used to say his coming to the Public will be detrimental to Bharat. However, the record shows that our Subhas Babu has not been declared a war criminal by the allied powers.

The Right to Information Act gives u the right to know however at the same time it upholds the Official Secret Act thereby allowing the government to hide information from the public.

I am been told we shall not dig out the past which can affect our present. Yes, it appears that the post-1945 story of our Babu will affect our present and perhaps may be detrimental to the same but cannot we inform our present of the falsities of the past?

We have to decide, the Bharatiyas have to take a decision. The game of majority prevails in the Parliament and we shall call upon the parliament that we will not physically harm anyone after getting the true state of affairs of Subhas Babu's life but we shall inform our present about the true National life of our Past.

Social Justice that I understand includes the Right of the People living in the society to know the history of the society which I argue can be upheld if a social engineer like Subhas Babu is been made known to the public page by page and inch by inch. Mind u the INA comprised people of every sex and religion.

‘Democracy conceives the rule of the majority but sometimes it forgets to emphasize the conscience of the majority and here in the case of Subhas Babu, the conscience of we the people of Bharat wants to know not like the phrase the nation wants to know’.

Views expressed by the writer are personal.  

The next great war may come out of some damned foolish thing in the South China Sea or the East China Sea. Alliances are as old as civilisation. Older, actually: almost every hunter-gatherer band that anthropologists have studied, from the New Guinea highlanders to the Yanomamo in the Amazon, made alliances with other groups to try to protect themselves.

But they often also ended up fighting people they had no quarrel with. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ is the usual logic that the alliances are built on, but people tend to overlook the fact that alliances also mean that ‘the enemy of my ally is my enemy too.’

Right now, the various regional alliances that already exist seem to be consolidating into a single all-embracing alliance system. It was that kind of system that made the First World War happen, and we probably don’t want to see that happen again.

Only three years ago there was only one big alliance in the world: the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), founded in 1949, victorious in the Cold War, and more recently an alliance in search of a new role. Almost everybody in Europe and North America belonged to it.

Apart from that, the United States had bilateral alliances or alliance-like arrangements with a number of countries in the Middle East (Israel), East Asia (Japan, South Korea and perhaps Taiwan) and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand).

Three of the world’s biggest countries, China, India and Russia, had no military alliances worth talking about. Unless you think that the China-North Korea, India-Bhutan and Russia-Armenia alliances count.

It was, in other words, a loosely-coupled world: something could go really bad in one part of the planet, and countries in other regions would not necessarily be dragged into it.

The shift began with rising concern in the Asia-Pacific countries and the United States about the irresistible rise of president-for-life Xi Jinping to supreme power in China. The response to that was the Quad, formally the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue: the US, India, Australia and Japan.

Founded in 2017, it began as just a talking shop, but after bitter clashes between Indian and Chinese troops on the Himalayan frontier in 2020 India came fully on board, participating in the first joint naval exercises with the other three Quad members in 2020.

Then came AUKUS, an alliance uniting the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, with the initial task of arranging for Australia to get a fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines. It was transparently designed to challenge China’s territorial ambitions in the South China Sea.

This pretty well completed the architecture for an ‘Indo-Pacific NATO’ whose members would account for about a third of the world’s GDP. The original NATO members account for about 45 per cent of global GDP (although the US and the UK are being double-counted in this reckoning).

While China’s more belligerent style under Xi certainly accounts for the speed at which a counter-balancing alliance took shape in the region, the equal and opposite reaction to this enterprise was the announcement of a “no limits” partnership by Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in early 2022. All this happened before Russia invaded Ukraine again in February of last year (having done it once already in 2014).

You can see how everybody was reacting in large part to moves by the other ‘side’, and why Xi backed off quickly from his ‘no limits’ partnership with Russia once he realised how obsessed Putin was with his Ukraine legacy project.

Nevertheless, the game is now afoot, and it will be hard to stop. Germany announced that it was doubling its defence budget last February; Japan said it would do the same last month. China is rapidly expanding its armed forces despite a failing economy, and Russia’s growing derangement is hard to ignore.

All the planners and analysts insist that they have it under control. We shouldn’t worry that we are living through a high-speed replay of the creation of the entangling alliances that dragged everybody into the First World War. This is a different time.

My problem is that I can’t see what is so different about this time. Outside the specific and well-contained war in Ukraine, there are no great issues of principle at stake, and none of the great powers is planning to destroy or subjugate any of the others. (Ukraine is not a great power, so that doesn’t count.)

Count Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of the newly united German Empire, remarked in 1878 that “One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.” As it did, in 1914, once all the alliances were in place.

The next great war may come out of some damned foolish thing in the South China Sea. Or the East China Sea, for that matter.

Gwynne Dyer’s new book is The Shortest History of War, Article Courtesy The Pioneer

India and Japan have common objectives in forging military agreements beyond military exercises and trade

China poses an active threat to the countries of the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. By avoiding contact warfare, it wishes to avoid heavy casualties and the associated international repercussions, especially the tag of a 'war initiator'. Hence, its strategies of wolf warrior diplomacy and salami slicing aim for a fait accompli, i.e., situations in which the revisionist power can revise the current system without a direct confrontation.

Xi Jinping's ‘China Dream’ encompasses "informatised local wars" with disruptive technologies of artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned systems, and directed-energy weapons. Thus, adopting an 'Integrated Network Electronic Warfare' blends computer network attacks and electronic warfare. This dominance is seen as a force multiplier in the capabilities of the PLA.

For this purpose, China has adopted a leapfrog approach in making advancements in non-kinetic physical directed energy weapons (DEW), which could be a future game changer. A plethora of DEW platforms, such as targeted high-powered lasers and wave emitters or particle beam waves, enhance Beijing's electromagnetic warfare capabilities. DEWs can disable the satellite sensors and jam automated signal and communication systems.

Washington's Defence Intelligence Agency Report, Challenges to Security in Space (2022), assessed that Beijing owns "multiple ground-based laser weapons of varying power levels to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites that include a currently limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors". Thus, it has the capability to produce reversible and non-reversible effects against the space systems of its adversaries.

Beijing's Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) satellite fleet, which has doubled since 2018, stood at 250 systems in 2022. These satellites allow the PLA to monitor and map the maritime and terrestrial bodies in the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Korean peninsula. At an international level, Russia and China are leaving no stone unturned in implementing their "no limits partnership" and jointly continue to develop and test their ASAT weapons in their military exercises. Given the technological developments related to the PLA, East and South Asia's overall balance of power has been disturbed.

In East Asia, Japan is trying to stand up against the Chinese threats to what it calls "the most severe and complex security environment since World War II". It understands that it is becoming crucial to counter China at two fronts simultaneously, i.e. first, to counter its naval expansion along with its numerical superiority, and second its expanding scope of electromagnetic warfare.

Consequently, the change in Tokyo's strategic stance on Beijing from an economic partner to an active military threat has given the leadership strategic clarity of its security requirements and policy formulation. By 2026, Japan intends to deploy Lockheed Martin's Tomahawk and Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff missiles at several bases. On the other hand, it is also going ahead with its military-civil integration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, aiming to develop a surface-to-ship guided missile.

Moreover, Japan has contemplated a possible Chinese electromagnetic attack that can disable power grids and other critical military assets like jet aircraft even before hostilities are initiated. It has incorporated the new technologies under "multi-domain defence force" for "cross-domain operations". For its immediate need, Japan has plans to deploy an Electronic Warfare unit to Yonaguni, Okinawa prefecture, to enhance its analytical and data collection capabilities.

From an international political perspective, Japan has rapidly moved beyond the partnership domain and entered formal institutionalised security cooperation. Thus, it is no longer in the stage of a 'reluctant realist'. The foundations laid by late PM Shinzo Abe are now reaping fruits which make Japan more secure and allow it to stand up against the Chinese threat.

Two crucial developments last year are much appreciated. First, Japan and Germany agreed to set up a "legal framework to facilitate joint activities between Japan's Self-Defence Forces and the German military". With agreements in place for intelligence-sharing mechanisms and promoting transfers of defence equipment and technology, interoperability between Japan and Germany would be a welcome step.

Second, Japan signed a bilateral security agreement with Australia that encompasses "practical cooperation and interoperability" in the emerging domains. These areas include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance… advanced defence science and technology, defence industry and high-end capabilities".

Although 2023 has just begun, Japan is already in action. The recent Japan-UK Reciprocal Access Agreement for "cooperative activities" will expand the narratives of a "free and open Indo-Pacific", thereby having profound consequences for the region. Also, the US-Japan agreement for "exploration, science, and research" in deep space has provisions for joint activities between the two countries in various areas such as space operations and technology, space transportation, safety and mission assurance.

Against the above backdrop, there are important messages for India, as it also faces an aggressive China on the land and in the maritime domain. A possible Sino-Pak collaboration, apart from challenges from the sea, can make the situation for India worrisome. Thus, it is time for India to come out of its reluctant approach and initiate dual-use critical technologies agreements with credible partners like Japan, France and Germany.

India should not be left behind in institutionalising multi-faceted security agreements. Although there are unsaid similarities in the objectives of Quad and the AUKUS, a very different approach shouldn't make the geographical contours of Quad more vulnerable to the Chinese threat. Needless to say that Galwan and Tawang skirmishes have demonstrated that the future of the India-China relationship does not seem to be stable at all, thereby posing multiple tactical as well as strategic challenges for the country.

India and Japan have common objectives in forging military agreements beyond military exercises and trade. Various dimensions of security agreements, such as joint research and production of technologies in the electromagnetic spectrum, increase the interoperability between the two forces, apart from developing cyber offensive mechanisms that can bring stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific order.

China, in future conflicts, will provoke either of the two countries at one point in time and would naturally expect stability at the other international border. Thus, it becomes essential to frustrate China in its own game; hence, Indo-Japan defence relations need to be boosted.

(The author is Associate Professor in Central University of Punjab, Bathinda)

Heaven is literally falling to greed. It is just not Joshimath but even Tehri Garhwal, Karnaprayag, and Mussorie that are also sinking and so may be many other parts at the crest of the Uttarakhand Himalayas. The Rs 12,000-crore Char Dham (CD) all-weather road projects spurring real estate are gobbling up all.

Latest reports say that still the earth movers are digging around Joshimath and other areas even as over 4,000 persons have been evacuated and most houses are crumbling. Tragedies do not stop the road to hell. In 2013, the Uttarakhand Government sought Rs 21,000 crore for ruthless reconstruction after the Himalayan deluge. It seems to be the catalyst for the present disaster.

The Tehri district is the latest to report cracks and land subsidence. An IIT Roorkee team is studying Karnaprayag. Chamba in the Tehri, around a CD tunnellng remains the worst hit with houses crumbling. seepage at Tehri dam is common, reports SP Rai of the National Institute of Hydrology. Now a road from Mana to Lipulekh through sensitive hills with the rare virgin forest is the latest to be in danger. In June 2013, after the Kedarnath tragedy this scribe mentioned “in all there are 244 hydel projects (HEP) of various sizes planned to be constructed in the state. Some of these are already on the streams. Others are coming up. Pancheswar dam being planned in Tanakpur is likely to be bigger than Tehri and the biggest in India. Does that mean more disasters are awaiting the region?” Unfortunately, it is so. Nobody listened to the cries of former minister Uma Bharati to not dislodge the image of the presiding deity, Dhari Devi before the June 18, 2013 cloudburst. The CAG reviewed 42 hydel projects in 2009.

It noted that over 200 more projects were coming up – almost every five to seven km. The yearning for making Uttarakhand the “Urja Pradesh” has led to reckless development. Ravi Chopra, former head of the High-Power Committee for CD roads, says that a bypass around Joshimath was opposed by the townspeople. The 10-meter-wide road all around the state weakens the hills with digging, blasting, and removal of green cover and aquifers. In 2010, HNB Garhwal University study said a tunnel boring machine punctured an aquifer on December 24, 2009, releasing millions of litres of water daily from NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad 520 MW hydel project.

The researchers warned of the mishap’s potential for “initiating ground subsidence”. It was forgotten till December 2022 when the looming nightmare became a reality around Joshimath. This punctured aquifer gushing out water is the cause for Joshimath sinking, confirms Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar. In February 2021, around 200 people went missing as Dhauliganga and Rishibhanga rivers flooded Tapovan head race tunnel. Warnings of 1930 Swiss scientists, 1976 Commissioner MC Mishra on haphazard constructions and the Supreme Court-appointed committee of 2013 for seismically sensitive Main Central Zone advice against hydel projects were ignored.

Incidents of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF), a UNDP and European Commission study mentioned, are happening regularly. Notable incidents occurred in 1997, 2000 and 2005 in the Sutlej basin and in 1970 and 1978 in Alaknanda and Bhagirathi basins. In 2000 and 2005, it hit the Pong Dam, in Himachal, severely damaging roads, habitations and scores of bridges. The Himalayas all around is crumbling. Dams and roads benefit the industry-real estate mafia damning the sensitive geology and livelihood. If unchecked it may have disastrous consequences and even desertify the cradle of the civilisation in the Ganga valley. The country must rise to stop it.

Courtesy-The Pioneer, Shivaji Sarkar: The author is a senior journalist. 

By all accounts, BJP MP Varun Gandhi is on his way out of the party. In that event, he could either 're-align with his 'parental party' or would find a ‘third-alternative', write Deepak K Upreti and Dipak Kumar Jha

The buzz is growing louder that Varun Gandhi is counting his days in the BJP. Except for Subramanian Swamy, no other BJP leader has chastised his own party the way Varun has done over the last two years. But worse. He sounds so much like his cousin Rahul Gandhi. The same outrage against the politics of communalism and caste, the same criticism of the role of media, and the same concerns for the farmers and unemployed youth. The same outpouring of emotion over the future of the nation.

Incidentally, he is also heard saying in one of the viral videos that he has nothing against Congress or Nehru ji. An ‘unconventional politician’ and three-time BJP member of parliament, Varun Gandhi is now looking beyond the ‘self-limiting barriers’ of the saffron party.  By all accounts, Varun is on his way out. In that event, he could either ‘re-align with his ‘parental party’ or would find a ‘third-alternative’.

When contacted by The Pioneer on his public stand on various issues going contrary to the central dispensation, the dissident MP said “I believe, I joined public life out of a sense of duty, I believe am doing all that could benefit average Indian and change the routine political discourse around us....”.

The countdown for the 42-year-old, the son of former central minister Maneka Gandi and the late Sanjay Gandhi, has begun. The BJP has completely marginalized him after pitting him and his mother against the Gandhi family of the Congress.

But as the Modi- led BJP captured Uttar Pradesh, the BJP cold-shouldered the MP from Pilibhit who at one time was seen as a possible Chief Ministerial candidate for the electorally biggest states in the country.

Appointed party secretary under Nitin Gadkari and then the youngest General secretary under the presidentship of Rajnath Singh, at the age of 33, Varun looked to fly high when the regime of Amit Shah suddenly clipped his wings and dropped him as General Secretary.

Varun did not seem to fit in the strict command and control of Modi-Shah BJP which is way different from the Vajpayee-Advani structure carrying imprints of ‘liberal shades’. The last straw for Varun has been his mother's exit from the Modi cabinet of 2019 and the dropping of both from the BJP’s National Executive.

The BJP MP has since then been making no-holds-barred strikes at the Modi-regime policies but avoided any personal attacks on the BJP leaders.  The ruling party has also remained reconciled to the “uneasy peace” with an unwritten understanding that seems to be guiding both sides.

Since 2019, the BJP MP has taken a complete contrarian view on all the economic and political policies, including on the alleged religious polarization across the country. Restless and ambitious, Varun says “ Look at my track record and tell me, if I am not speaking for people in any of my writings or actions”.

And something none can hold against him is the fact that he is the only MP who is not drawing his salary and donating it to “farmers on the verge of suicide on account of their debt” while a majority of other MPs seek higher salaries, more perks, and privileges.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Pilibhit MP from 2015 to 2017 worked out a plan towards an “individual solution” for the debt-ridden farmers, particularly those on the verge of suicide.  In his book ‘Rural Manifesto’, Varun pointed out economic markers driving farmers to suicide in UP.

The crowd-funding efforts, he says, made 8000 to 10000 farmers debt free in 20 districts of UP. He is the only MP from National Democratic Alliance who supported ‘Jan Lokpal bill and sat at ‘Ram Lila Maidan’ to back it in 2011.  He also backed the ‘Kisan Andolan’, condemned police attacks on farmers, and supported the victims of Lakhimpur Kheri violence in UP.

The MP also points to the fact he has espoused the cause of Independent judiciary vis-vis ‘committed judiciary’ to allow free speech and ethos. He went on to criticize the Modi dispensation for leaving two crore government jobs vacant when the unemployment, post-Covid, was at its peak. Thereafter, he also presented a private Member bill ‘Bharosa : Bhartiya Rojgar Sanhita’ for a mandatory and time-bound filling of government jobs in the country.

Even before 2019, he had taken a non-party stance but the party re-nominated him and his mother Maneka Gandhi and even allowed them to swap constituencies.

The BJP bosses have ignored his potshots, but it is unlikely that this time Varun will escape the guillotine of the BJP parliamentary board when it comes to picking up candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are not known to forgive and forget. Varun cannot retrace his steps. He has to move forward, on a path that may unite the Gandhi family and see him emerging as the poster boy of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 polls. Who knows, he may even explore other options if winnability was his sole concern. But one thing is clear: Varun’s days in the BJP are numbered.

Rahul Gandhi recently ducked a question on the prospect of Varun joining the Congress and said only party president M Mallikarjun Kharge was competent to talk on the subject. But few will believe that Kharge will have any say in a matter which involved such sensitive family issues.

It is believed that Priyanka could become the catalyst for Varun’s departure from the BJP and entry into Congress. And if this happens, it would also unify the Nehru-Gandhi family after almost 40 years when the Sonia Gandhi-Maneka Gandhi tiff split the Congress’ first family.

“Varun has a significant following in Pilibhit-Sultanpur-Lakhimpur Khiri and its surrounding areas. If he joins the Congress, this could be a big boost to Congress which is struggling to regain its foothold in UP beyond the family boroughs of Amethi and Raebareli,” said Pushpendra, former Professor and Dean at Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS).

Pusphendra further explained how a new political environment will be created in case Varun joins the Congress. “In politics, the word ‘mahaul’ has a lot of significance. As the political climate seems to change over Congress’ Yatra, Varun’s joining may both affect and impact. People from other parties in the State like SP and BSP (which seems to fade away now) may follow the suit and joins the winds of change,” the political analyst said.

Earlier it was speculated that Sonia and Rahul were not keen to allow another Gandhi to join the family enterprise, especially one with much more ambition and drive than Rahul. But after the stupendous success of the Bharat jodo yatra, Rahul seems to be in complete control of things in Congress. He has no reason to feel wary of anyone with or outside the party.

Significantly, on the 76th birth anniversary of Sanjay Gandhi, the Congress gave much more space to their former dynamic leader which was never done in three decades.

Varun seems determined to create a situation that leads to his exit from the BJP. This reflects in his speeches. Look at the following:” The politics of our country should be to unite the country, not the politics of creating a civil war. We should not do politics that suppress people, rather we should do politics that uplift people…..TV and newspapers are only doing Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim, and caste politics. Divide brothers and kill brothers. We will not let these politics happen,” Varun said recently.

His statement is compared with Rahul’s speech in Delhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.  Interestingly, almost ‘caged’ in the BJP, Varun has flourished with his pen.

Dwelling on rural distress, Varun has written 1000 pages of’ Rural Manifesto - Realizing India’s future through her villages’ , which is “taught in economic courses” of some of the universities. Next month, he is bringing out his other 1100 pages volume on ‘Urbanization- the Indian Metropolis’. ‘The otherness of the self’ and ‘ Stillness’ are his two early books on poetry by Varun.

In the run-up to 2024, the Gandhi scion is, understandably, all set to end his existential dilemma and the BJP too may reciprocate in equal measure.

(Syndicated column: The Writer/s are special correspondent of The Pioneer)

It has not just changed the lives of people to a great extent but has changed their way of thinking and learning

In July 2015, the government launched the ‘Digital India’ initiative to improve the online infrastructure and increase internet accessibility among its citizens; thereby empowering the country to become more digitally advanced in almost all sectors and since then there has been no turning back. As we continue to advance in the 21st century, the rise of digital technology has become increasingly evident. We live in a world where modern technology has not only made our lives easier, faster, better but has also cleared the way for multi-functional devices such as smartphones and smartwatches.

Digital technology has affected almost every aspect of our lives. For instance, in the workplace, multiple hardware and software have increased efficiency and productivity, thereby allowing businesses to operate globally. In personal lives, the internet has opened a world of information and connectivity, making it easier to stay connected with friends and family.

With the advancements in the field of Science and Technology, electronic gadgets and devices play a vital role. Gadgets such as smartphones, laptops, e-readers, motion sensors, vacuum cleaners, sensor sprinklers, video doorbells, wireless lighting control systems, etc., have made our lives pleasurable and comfortable. Digital technology has modified almost every aspect of modern life so it is now rare to find an electronic device that does not consolidate digital technology in some way.

Most digital tools are more popular among children and likely among elders too. There is no denying the fact that these technologies enhance the learning process of learners by providing them with easy access to information, deepening their understanding of difficult concepts and helping them explore new opportunities with the click of a button. As technology continues to grow, learner starts developing knowledge of various technological skills at an early stage that they will need in the future. It will also make them good multitaskers and good decision makers.

However, if not put to good use, the same digital technology can also give rise to various physical and psychological issues such as excessive exposure to social media may cause eyestrain and the learner might face difficulty, focusing on important tasks. At times, it may even lead to serious health conditions such as anxiety or depression.

Today none of us can even imagine a world without the internet, smartphones, tablets, electronic games and other handheld devices. Social media, online gaming, and other forms of digital communication have become a part and parcel of our life. The digital world has made it easy to stay connected with friends, family, and relatives and work remotely. We can express our views, make videos, share opinions, and exchange ideas and strategies through social applications, websites and software, even if we are in two different corners of the world.

The use of digital technology has even helped in flourishing digital businesses. In a recent report, McKinsey highlighted that the ‘Digital India’ initiative is expected to boost the country’s digital economy to $1trillion by 2025. Digital technology enables the storage of large amounts of information such as videos, music, reports, etc in relatively small spaces or devices such as mobile phones or drives. Not only this, but with continuous advancement over time, the information stored, or the videos can also be edited.

The world of digital technology opens its doors to several learning opportunities. Anybody having access to the internet has the opportunity to the world’s knowledge.

Moreover, this technology is beneficial to people with disabilities and can give them regular access. Consumers today are demanding applications that can tell them on their phones how they are doing health-wise. The availability of hundreds of health applications such as HealthTap, WebMD, Apple Health, Pocket Pharmacist, Teladoc, headspace, Medicine and many more have helped patients to monitor their health and disease, thereby simplifying patient management at hospitals.

Digital technology has changed the lives of people to a great extent. It has changed their way of thinking and learning thereby making them more independent and knowledgeable in almost all aspects of life. Recent developments such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence have helped the government to a large extent in providing efficiency in the services they render. There is less paperwork as such technologies allow the government to keep its confidential records in a secure ledger.

Digital technology with digital learning when put to good use will open its gate to digital opportunity i.e. it will lead to the opening of new possibilities which will further lead to communication, social networking, collaboration, content management and access to analytics data, along with staff and customer satisfaction.

(Courtesy The Pioneer: The author is a teacher at a reputed school in Delhi)

Yogi Adityanath will have to rein in saffron activists if he wants the film city project to be successful

The Uttar Pradesh Government seems to be serious about its dream to make the state a film-making centre. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday met a number of leading lights of Hindi cinema on Thursday for the purpose. In fact, the state has been trying to attract the film industry for quite some time. Film City came up at Noida decades ago, but it eventually got occupied by television news channels. Undeterred by the failure of Noida’s Film City to become a major film centre, the Chief Minister interacted with several people from the film fraternity, including producer Boney Kapoor, actor Ravi Kishen (who is also Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur), Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Nirhua, playback singers Sonu Nigam and Kailash Kher, actor Suniel Shetty, and filmmakers Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Madhur Bhandarkar, and Rajkumar Santoshi. A day earlier, the Chief Minister had met actor Akshay Kumar. After the half-an-hour-long meeting, Kumar said, “Many big production houses, producers, directors and actors are waiting for the UP Film City. The development of world-class film and infotainment city in UP will provide a new option to the cinema world.” If that happens, UP will see a lot of economic development and employment generation. As the largest Hindi-speaking state, UP is quite apt to have a film centre. With the state administration keen on a film city, it can become a reality in the foreseeable future. So far, so good.

However, it takes more than political will and administrative support to develop a film city; it also requires a socio-cultural milieu in which creative arts can flourish; and it is here that the shoe pinches. UP, like most other parts of the Hindi heartland, is dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its front organisations. One of the biggest ailments that the saffron party is afflicted with is a kind of split personality disorder. Party leaders and Government functionaries talk about world-class infrastructure, state-of-the-art facilities, the latest technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, and so on; they also walk the talk, as evident from the various policies and programmes that the Centre and BJP Governments in states are implementing. Anyone viewing such developments would say that these guys belong to the 21st century. But, unfortunately, many of them also belong to the 17th century; one just has to notice their views on cows and mythology to realise this fact. Many centuries live in the BJP. The 21st century BJP may want UP to emerge as a prominent film centre, but will the medievalists let that happen? That is the moot question. It is a well-known fact that cinema gets the worst treatment from the enemies of free speech; also, most of these enemies are from the Hindutva camp. The folks who scrutinise Ravan’s looks and Deepika Padukone’s dress may not like the ways of filmy people in their state. If Adityanath can control that, the film city project may become successful.

Bharat Jodo Yatra takes a break. It is time they think about the Yatra’s future course and beyond.

After walking for almost 3000 kilometers Rahul Gandhi and his entourage are resting in Delhi before they march again on January 3 towards their final destination in Kashmir. Rahul Gandhi has come a long way both physically as well as metaphorically. It has been a welcome transition from a shy boy eight years ago to a confident-looking gentleman who is daring to take on his opponents and braving all attacks on him. Indeed Bharat Jodo Yatra has been a game changer at least for him if not for his party. It would indeed be much more to revive the party at the hustings and win the elections. Winning hearts does not automatically translate into winning elections. A lot more goes into it like strategy, groundwork, ideology articulation, and of course an articulator. No doubt the party which was lying almost dormant is awake and even its workers look energetic and confident. The same party which took all the jibes without any fuss is now retorting to every criticism of Yatra and Rahul and succeeding in pushing the BJP back. What is more, this yatra has shown that the party’s organizing skills are intact and it can manage to mobilize its workers on the ground across the country. Another comeback has been in terms of coverage and media attention. Though the media is not friendly to him it has certainly taken note of it. It could not ignore him for the sheer consistency and magnitude.

The big question is what is next. Now that the Yatra would resume on January 3, its organizers would have time to review its progress and what it lacks. Though the people’s participation in the rally has been phenomenal, the opposition has remained cautious and skeptical and hasn’t come along. The party has done well to invite Akhilesh Yadav and other parties to walk along things might change. If the congress party wants to make a comeback it would have to think beyond Yatra and devise a strategy to reap the harvest and channelise the goodwill generated by the Yatra. Another drawback the congress party has and which is not going to wither away by yatra is internal bickering which is harming its prospects. Gehlot – Pilot feud is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more disgruntled leaders in the party who have to be pacified. Last but not least Prime Minister Modi Is still far ahead of Rahul Gandhi in popularity and as a charmer and that would be the toughest challenge for Rahul Gandhi and his party to counter.

Amitabh Bachchan airs Bollywood's pain as he talks about censorship and moral policing

The anguish of Bollywood came to the fore in the inaugural address of Kolkata film festival when the veteran actor  Amitabh Bachchan chose to speak about the censorship that is taking away creative freedom and jeopardizing freedom of speech. Though it was a veiled attack, he did not mince words in saying that jingoism was ruling the cinema world today which is detrimental to the film industry. He also talked about the need to have an inclusive environment in which all shades of opinion could grow and find a voice. He implored his fraternity to fall back upon the three stalwarts of the cinema, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, and Ritwik Ghatak whose films he said showed society as it was and did not bother about the consequences. Shahrukh Khan whose film ‘Pathan’ is in the eye of a storm also talked about the need to have a robust system where a multitude of voices and ideologies thrived. While Amitabh Bachchan emphasized free speech, and censorship in the film industry, superstar Shah Rukh Khan spoke about the “narrowness” driving social media.

Bollywood is going through a tough time. Most films it produces are tanking at the box office. Not because the film standards are down or people’s tastes have changed but because a large section, politically motivated, is trying to choke it to death. While some films which are pro-Hindutva and harp upon the Hindu-Muslim division, historical or contemporary, are allowed and even promoted the other films which go against it are subjected to boycott campaigns.  Shahrukh Khan Starrer “Pathan” is being targeted  because it has Shahrukh Khan in it and allegedly Deepika Padukone is part of ‘tukde tukde gang’. The righwing would like to dethrone the Khans from the industry. But that doesn’t seem to be working as the popularity of Khans remains intact despite the propaganda against them. The fact remains that when you ban or boycott a film you don’t work only against the filmmaker or the actors but also hundreds of people whose effort goes into the making of the film. When films don’t earn money, it is they  who are out of the job and suffer. This is truer when unemployment is at an all-time high and economic growth is slowing down. It is about time we think about the direction we are going in. Do we want to live in a country where only one philosophy, one ideology flourishes and others are censored, or gagged to death?