Deep State has now become the engine of conspiracy theories across democracies. America was the first, and India is catching up fast. Many European democracies are on the bandwagon too.
When any political executive has to choose between loyalty and competence, the former takes priority. And I say this with authority, having worked with multiple parties and governments.
Sometimes, those who claim to be part of the deep state ascribe to themselves a larger-than-life role in state affairs—for example, AS Dulat and Asad Durrani in their 2018 book.
The real 'Deep State' in India was embodied by Indira Gandhi’s regime. While the Congress Party failed to act during the 1962 Sino-Indian War, it was JFK who came to India’s aid.
BJP’s attack was not merely on American ‘Deep State'. The idea had been acquiring currency across ideological lines for some time. It’s been given greater legitimacy by Trump.
How to derail democracy is a lesson taught in the Nehru Dynasty School of Politics. Rahul now has a sibling who will have his back in Lok Sabha when he starts his anti-democracy rant.
Islamabad-based think-tank PICSS's new report says Pakistan saw 'pronounced escalation' in violence last year, with 3,413 conflict-related deaths compared to 1,950 in previous year.
Many of you might think I got something so wrong in National Interest pieces written this year. I might disagree! But some deserve a Mea Culpa. I’d deal with the most recent this week.
What is relevant to note is that, ever since our Republic was formed, Govt. AT ALL LEVELS has sought to be an employer, and a major one at that. In other words, the Modi Govt. has nothing particular to do with the contrast between what the Trump Administration is doing and what is happening in India. Precisely because we have such a large bureaucracy, we have poor governance. This is unlikely to change no matter which party is in power because no Govt. can survive WITHOUT FEEDING THE BEAST.
I completed my schooling from Convent school with PCM-C & later completed my Engineering. Have 4 years experience now & dont get any increments as such. In-hand payment is just Rs.35,000 in Tier-1 city (after lot of deductions including NPS).
8th Pay Commission has been criticised here by the writer for his Capitalist Funders I guess. If Basic-Pay changes proposed are implemented next year, it will set a template for Private Corporate companies as well. It is totally wrong to criticize it when after 10 years, increments are much needed. Private companies have no check & balances, & there are times when I work for 10-12 hours as well, & our SALARIES are stagnant. Our companies & top corporates are earning so much but we hardly get any benefit out of it.
Will request Shekhar to stop being a mouth-piece of your Capitalists Funders. Have followed ThePrint, Cut The Clutter, etc. since its inception I guess, & we do also contribute our time & resources. Give youth like us also some preferences as our future looks very tough. Atleast give one shot to an editorial to this issue how top companies like Infosys have not increases their salaries since a decade. Youth & Indians in general dont mind working for 12 or even 14 hours a day or cumulative 100 hours a week, but atleast come up with decent salaries and pay for us which matches the sector & companies’ growth!
Modi is utterly incompetent as far as governance is concerned. But he is very good in winning elections, and Pappu helps him a lot in that too. All his policies are aligned for winning elections, with only a few exceptions like Agniveer.
The size of government, the quality of governance, the proportion of tax revenues the governments at Centre and states spend to maintain themselves, salaries and pensions. Interest, if one adds the accumulation of past sins. After a decade in office, it is possible to make an objective evaluation. 2. For ordinary citizens, education and healthcare are key. Both subjected to a stress test during the pandemic. Asian economic success stories got education and healthcare firmly under control before seeing high growth. An essential building block. 3. Bureaucracy in India is no longer a stumbling block. Any more than institutions, which President Trump thinks so poorly of. Everything is in position, perfectly lined up. So we must ask why so many Indians no longer wish to stay at home and participate in the glorious journey to the First World. ETA 2047.
Sorrry to say Shekhar, but I don’t agree with anything that you just said on the 8th pay commisssion and govt jobs. Seems like you are like a puppet of chrony capitalists of our Country, where our Indian capitalists want our youth to work 70-90 hour per week. And wages are stagnant from 2013 – 2014 (Infosys is paying same to the fresher as it was in 2012 -13). Whatever, only 2.2% – 3% of total population is having government jobs is far less than any developing or developed countries.
One more thing , why are you not telling the contraction in Argentinian economy which was contracted by 1.6 percent in 2023, due to persistent macroeconomic imbalances , Argentina began a process of stabilizing its macroeconomy in 2024. Real GDP is estimated to contract by 3.5 percent in 2024,
Source : https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/argentina/overview
And wait for America , I mean don’t give examples of America where people are getting sacked for investigating the Musk and Tesla. Don’t push your Agenda of Chrony capitalists where they want to make more and more, and keep us on edge . The govt is needed because it always sets the market trend of minimum wages . The 8th pay commission is not only beneficial for the govt employees but also for the corporate ones. As they’ll also asks for hikes which will be beneficial for the economy. And why are you not telling the people about the tax cuts given by govt to big tech giants but still no increase in jobs ?????
Please do some research rather than putting BS ideas .
I did my engineering from reputed Institute and they are paying me 40,000 per month along with the 2.5 years bond and that too in tier 1 city. Isse accha to me police ki taiyyari krr leta . Even the constable earns more than me (and that is fair, not jealous for him/her) . But what about me who did good in school with PCM + computer science, JEE mains, 4 years college course , cracked placement . And at the end this is what I get along with huge workload + minimum wage + constant stress of being replaced or thrown out due to recession. That’s it , just start looking from our prespective of tier-3 lower class Gen-Zs , like me.
Behave like journalist rather than spokesperson of your investors like Sudha Murthy.
This is in response to your previous national interest where my comment was removed regularly
As long as BJP attaches itself to its roots, it will remain a socialist party at heart. Whether for good or bad, 10 more years will reveal. Now it looks to be going the wrong way. Most Indian business are held back by bureaucracy that is corrupt to its core but is highly efficient in licking boots of politicians.
The government must urgently disperse the ministries across the country to tier 2 /3 cities and rent out those enormous prime locale properties on the Lutyens to earn some much needed revenues. With e-governance there should be no need for physical proximities between the ministries for smooth governmental functioning. This will force the Lords of destinies of Indian people (Bharata Bhagya Vidhatas) to interact with aam bharatiyas and be more attuned to their real time grievances and develop some actionable solutions.
What is relevant to note is that, ever since our Republic was formed, Govt. AT ALL LEVELS has sought to be an employer, and a major one at that. In other words, the Modi Govt. has nothing particular to do with the contrast between what the Trump Administration is doing and what is happening in India. Precisely because we have such a large bureaucracy, we have poor governance. This is unlikely to change no matter which party is in power because no Govt. can survive WITHOUT FEEDING THE BEAST.
I completed my schooling from Convent school with PCM-C & later completed my Engineering. Have 4 years experience now & dont get any increments as such. In-hand payment is just Rs.35,000 in Tier-1 city (after lot of deductions including NPS).
8th Pay Commission has been criticised here by the writer for his Capitalist Funders I guess. If Basic-Pay changes proposed are implemented next year, it will set a template for Private Corporate companies as well. It is totally wrong to criticize it when after 10 years, increments are much needed. Private companies have no check & balances, & there are times when I work for 10-12 hours as well, & our SALARIES are stagnant. Our companies & top corporates are earning so much but we hardly get any benefit out of it.
Will request Shekhar to stop being a mouth-piece of your Capitalists Funders. Have followed ThePrint, Cut The Clutter, etc. since its inception I guess, & we do also contribute our time & resources. Give youth like us also some preferences as our future looks very tough. Atleast give one shot to an editorial to this issue how top companies like Infosys have not increases their salaries since a decade. Youth & Indians in general dont mind working for 12 or even 14 hours a day or cumulative 100 hours a week, but atleast come up with decent salaries and pay for us which matches the sector & companies’ growth!
Modi is utterly incompetent as far as governance is concerned. But he is very good in winning elections, and Pappu helps him a lot in that too. All his policies are aligned for winning elections, with only a few exceptions like Agniveer.
I can see people like to throw around the term socialist without actually understanding the term.
Modi is not a socialist. He is a conservative populist who is simply carrying out the protectionist economic policy India has always had.
The size of government, the quality of governance, the proportion of tax revenues the governments at Centre and states spend to maintain themselves, salaries and pensions. Interest, if one adds the accumulation of past sins. After a decade in office, it is possible to make an objective evaluation. 2. For ordinary citizens, education and healthcare are key. Both subjected to a stress test during the pandemic. Asian economic success stories got education and healthcare firmly under control before seeing high growth. An essential building block. 3. Bureaucracy in India is no longer a stumbling block. Any more than institutions, which President Trump thinks so poorly of. Everything is in position, perfectly lined up. So we must ask why so many Indians no longer wish to stay at home and participate in the glorious journey to the First World. ETA 2047.
Sorrry to say Shekhar, but I don’t agree with anything that you just said on the 8th pay commisssion and govt jobs. Seems like you are like a puppet of chrony capitalists of our Country, where our Indian capitalists want our youth to work 70-90 hour per week. And wages are stagnant from 2013 – 2014 (Infosys is paying same to the fresher as it was in 2012 -13). Whatever, only 2.2% – 3% of total population is having government jobs is far less than any developing or developed countries.
One more thing , why are you not telling the contraction in Argentinian economy which was contracted by 1.6 percent in 2023, due to persistent macroeconomic imbalances , Argentina began a process of stabilizing its macroeconomy in 2024. Real GDP is estimated to contract by 3.5 percent in 2024,
Source : https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/argentina/overview
And wait for America , I mean don’t give examples of America where people are getting sacked for investigating the Musk and Tesla. Don’t push your Agenda of Chrony capitalists where they want to make more and more, and keep us on edge . The govt is needed because it always sets the market trend of minimum wages . The 8th pay commission is not only beneficial for the govt employees but also for the corporate ones. As they’ll also asks for hikes which will be beneficial for the economy. And why are you not telling the people about the tax cuts given by govt to big tech giants but still no increase in jobs ?????
Please do some research rather than putting BS ideas .
I did my engineering from reputed Institute and they are paying me 40,000 per month along with the 2.5 years bond and that too in tier 1 city. Isse accha to me police ki taiyyari krr leta . Even the constable earns more than me (and that is fair, not jealous for him/her) . But what about me who did good in school with PCM + computer science, JEE mains, 4 years college course , cracked placement . And at the end this is what I get along with huge workload + minimum wage + constant stress of being replaced or thrown out due to recession. That’s it , just start looking from our prespective of tier-3 lower class Gen-Zs , like me.
Behave like journalist rather than spokesperson of your investors like Sudha Murthy.
This is in response to your previous national interest where my comment was removed regularly
As long as BJP attaches itself to its roots, it will remain a socialist party at heart. Whether for good or bad, 10 more years will reveal. Now it looks to be going the wrong way. Most Indian business are held back by bureaucracy that is corrupt to its core but is highly efficient in licking boots of politicians.
Carrier civil servents are evil….no one should be a civil servant for life….. India should adopt a policy of getting rid of civil servant after 10 yrs
The government must urgently disperse the ministries across the country to tier 2 /3 cities and rent out those enormous prime locale properties on the Lutyens to earn some much needed revenues. With e-governance there should be no need for physical proximities between the ministries for smooth governmental functioning. This will force the Lords of destinies of Indian people (Bharata Bhagya Vidhatas) to interact with aam bharatiyas and be more attuned to their real time grievances and develop some actionable solutions.
Socialist Modi tasks like a conservative, but does all socialist things.