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Bihar  state assembly elections win for NDA led by Modi has one astonishing fact- the average age in Bihar for 128 million people is 22 years with 58% of population under 25 years. The win of 203 seats of 243 is the path to stable government for the industrialization of India into one of the advanced economies of the world similar to Japan and China in Asia. It is also about the aspirations of youth in one of the world's ancient civilizations. Buddhist civilization of Asia (China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia) had its birthplace in Bihar region of northeastern India. It is now likely to find its place on the world map from ancient universities to the Buddha's ancient sites and youth finding their place in the modern world. Women participation was 72% and overall participation 68% of voters in this election in Bihar state.

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About half of foreign investment in poor developing countries is sent through tax havens resulting in tax revenues lost to poor countries. Here Max Bearak of the Washington Post points to a offshore to offshore transaction when Vodafone bought a company Hutchison Essar in India- Vodafone based in Netherlands and Hutchison in the Cayman and British Virgin Islands both tax havens- the result being a loss of $2.2 billion in tax revenues to India. This is about what it costs to provide subsidized meals to schoolchildren in India, says Bearak. The Tax Justice Network says the figure of Angel Gurria of the OECD that 3 times the foreign aid is lost through such tax evasion is a bit low, its estimate is as high as ten times foreign aid lost through tax evasion of this type.

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About Brazil's Bolsa Familia program to help the very poor by having requirements that they send their children to school and get them vaccinated. President Lula who comes from a poor background himself introduced this program to reduce poverty. This is done in a way that requires families to send their children to school and improve the chances of reducing both hunger and malnutrition as well as help bring improvements through education and health care, so that poverty is not passed on from generation to generation. It is unique in the developing world and making a real difference in Brazil. Brazilian advisors are helping India with its program, which merely provides food subsidies but does not have the requirements of Bolsa Familia, which help the next generation build better lives.

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India's Adiya-L1 observation station in space to look at the sun sends back useful information that would protect power grids on earth.

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Mark Landler's interview with Hussain Haqqani in Oct. 2013 provides insights into the misperceptions on both sides of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship since 1947. Particularly the way Pakistan cannot shake free from seeing everything through the prism of India. He points out that Ambassador Holbrooke had a forward looking approach to the South Asian region, but failed to get the support of president Obama and the weak leadership of president Zardari, resulting in a squandered opportunity for the region to look beyond the twentieth century's conflicts towards a brighter future.

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Douglas Wilson was born in Annapolis, Maryland, before his father, a Baptist pastor, moved the family to Idaho in the American West.  Wilson started a Christian revival movement from Christ Church, Idaho, which is based on his views of Calvinism and the original teachings of Christianity dating back to the Mayflower Compact of 1602 set in Geneva, which outlined the vision of the early colonists to America of the relations between the church and the government, setting forth their vision. This is America going back to the earliest days in 1600, of Britain and Northern Europe, and the settlement of a vast continent 185 years before the drafting at a convention for the new Republic, of the United States of America the 13 original colonies in 1787. The original roots of the Nation in the Geneva Compact of 1602 can still be seen in Geneva, Switzerland, near the Calvinist cathedral in the center of the French Swiss town of Geneva, that acted as a crossroads for the prominent ideas on Christian thought at the time. From it's earliest days for the colonists since 1602, the Tynsdale Bible of the 16th century that brought it into the English language from Latin and Greek, and its offshoot the Authorized King James Version of the Bible of 1611 formed the basis of civilized life in the American colonies, and helped the colonists seek a new world in the wilderness that was the North American continent in the years 1600 to 1780. In the early years of the 13 colonies on the Atlantic seaboard, and further west into Ohio and Michigan- vast untamed forests, mountains, lakes and rivers. From 1780 to the 1880 this wilderness extended into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming upto the Pacific. Ideas of Common Prayer in schools and in everyday life informed the society of the time and was integrated in all parts of life. Only after 1780 were the ideas of separation of church and state developed by Madison and Jefferson for the constitutional framework of orderly government and respect for rights of citizens to practice their faith. At no point was it intended to take the Common Prayer out of schools, which is essentially a new idea from the 19th century. There is mention of Asian religions Buddhism and the religion of the Upanishads in India in the argument against prayer in schools,  yet it is a fact that this is only a theory as immigration from China, Japan, and India was actively discouraged, and also banned in many ways, till the Irish Kennedy administration in 1960. And it is also a fact that Mohandas Gandhi the leader of India drew great inspiration from the King James 1611 version of the Bible, and it helped him deepen his religious beliefs in the Upanishads to create the modern Indian state for 1.4 billion people in Asia. Most of the hymns of the Christian faith were known to Gandhi and formed part of his beliefs, when the Common Prayer itself started disappearing from American schools in a post war reaction to colonialism, imperialism and racial discrimination, such that it depleted the very reserves of civilization, of wisdom and thought, of science and technology, that helped create America out of the wilderness. ...

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Kingfisher Airlines in India is facing large losses after an ill timed expansion. The airline has failed to pay suppliers, lessors, lenders, and employees. It is now cutting flights and operating only 28 of 64 planes in its operations. Indian tax officials have frozen its bank accounts a second time because Kingfisher was unable to pay service taxes.

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How the weakening dollar in Dubai is affecting the dirham rupee exchange rate. Remittances mostly to South Asia are about 21 billion dollars a year. 18 months ago the exchange rate was 12.5 Indian rupees to the dollar now its 10.7, one carpenter from India says he is going back if it goes to 8 rupees.

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DW.com's Science section provides this report that shows detailed graphs, and information on the dangerous use of pesticides that lead to poisoning  for 385 million people in agriculture every year. Farm workers in countries like India are particularly affected. The Heinrich Boll Foundation of The Friends of the Earth, Le Monde, and Pesticide Action Network Germany, supported this 50 page report presented in Berlin recently. The business of pesticides is worth $35 billion for large companies, yet brings with it many dangers for food contamination, water pollution, environmental damage.  Prime minister Modi in India has shown foresight and vision in tackling the problems from plastics pollution in cities and from pesticides pollution in agricultural areas. He has warned farmers about its dangers and the need to use some of the traditional methods for agriculture that avoid extensive chemical fertilizer and pesticide use. The alarming use of pesticides leads to the highest pesticide contamination of water, soil and air in the world happening in Latin America. In Nepal and India alternatives to pesticides are found in a mixture of herbs and cow urine put on the plants. Pesticide prevention in organic agriculture is also done by banning synthetic pesticides, and crops rotated in a way to prevent monocultures while encouraging insects and birds to thrive. French farmers promote organic farming with many methods they have pioneered that also promote biodiversity, which can be copied in India and rest of Asia, Latin America, Africa. ...

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The glass ceiling facing locals for senior management positions at operations of western companies in China, India, Indonesia and other parts of Asia. Western companies are not doing enough to train and develop managerial talent in China, India and other Asian countries.

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PM Modi of India arrives in Munich for the G-7 summit at the invitation of Chancellor Scholz. Also invited are South Africa, Argentina, and Indonesia. 

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The need for a global response to a global problems not a lot of local solutions is the subject of this article by Dr. Larry Brilliant, who for 7 years 1973-80 worked with the World Health Organization to eradicate smallpox globally. 1. Action for a global response-The WHO can act as the vehicle for action globally-  restructure it and empower it to do the job. Put the right people in place who have the confidence globally. Set a new pandemic treaty and put it in place. 2.  Get a more advanced version of the mRNA vaccine which does not need a cold chain. India is reportedly working on one. Put funds and people in place for vaccine drives in poor countries.  Other action needed is learning from the situation in South Africa where the HIV patients are reported by Stephanie Nolan in NYT to have been more susceptible to mutations of the new variant. How can resources be put in place in poor countries so that patients in vulnerable populations get their medicines regularly, and are vaccinated. Overall how can these populations have the vaccine supplies needed- including ones without cold chain suggested by Larry Brilliant, potentially through vaccine work in India. Can international teams be developed with developed countries in Europe and US financing the effort and India offering its manpower and knowhow?   ...

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The Irish prime minister Varadkar says it is time to move on. When he assumed office he was the first from an ethnic minority background to lead Ireland, the son of an Irish mother and an Indian immigrant father. He took Ireland through the crises of coronavirus pandemic, Brexit, and improved unemployment and budget shortfalls. Recently he accepted defeat on a referendum intended to remove language in the Irish Constitution on a clause about "a woman's life within the home." Disagreements over the language of the referendum led to its not getting approved on International Women's Day by about 70% of the vote with 44% of people voting. It suggest there was no enthusiasm and its relevance at this time was not understood. It is not clear why there was a need for this referendum in the first place to remove one text of the constitution that respects the role of family and mother's contributions in the home. During the pandemic for instance women played a major role, and sometimes took on a greater share of the burden. Efforts to have women's participation as shown in Japan and India does not require constitutional wording to be changed. Japan has done remarkably well and India is about to do this. And removing the wording about women's role at home, instead of encouraging or adding wording about women actively participating in the workforce and actions to make that possible, accomplishes little. Coupling this with a wording that includes gay families in the definition of family while removing the role of women in the family language seemed to be making changes that had little to do with each other. ...

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The Quad meeting of the US, Australia, Japan and India took place in Hiroshima, as shown here. The leaders expressed their deep concern over the economic effects of the Ukraine war, including "food, fuel and energy security, critical supply chains. The meeting was to take place in Sydney, Australia, but was cancelled due to debt talks taking place between Biden and Republicans in the US Congress. The next Quad meeting is in India in 2024. Biden will meet pm Modi in the US June 22. PM Modi also meets Macron on Bastille Day in Paris on 14 July as a special guest of France.

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The redevelopment of the classic Egmore railway station in Chennai at a cost of 734 crores is set to take off. It is a much needed renovation for Chennai and will take 36 months and bring it to international standards under PM Gati Shakti Master Plan for Inter Modal Connectivity. Egmore station handles 1.2 million people daily and is one of the oldest rail stations in India, and one that connects the south with Sri Lanka. Hyderabad based DEC is beginning the initial survey and plans to make this a showcase for other rail stations in India in the drive to modernization.

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Kings Way which remained right up to 2022 as Rajpath in Hindi as the British named the central part of Delhi for the Empire is now a thing of the past, says prime minister Modi. He opened the newly laid out Kartavya Marg with Netaji Subhas Bose replacing the symbol of the Empire in King George at the end of the Kartavya Marg. With the completion of the National War Memorial at the other end Delhi now has a new look and it will remind people of India that it is the work of the people not of kings and nobles in the new India that counts.

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The Indian Supreme Court on July 27 upholds the core amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)  which gives the enforcement authority, the Enforcement Directorate ED, the powers to make summons, arrest, and other powers to enforce the law. The Supreme Court called the PMLA a law against "the scourge of money laundering." After independence in 1947 some of the problems that Mohandas Gandhi witnessed in the early Congress party ministries allowed by the British in the 1930's became a part of the political fabric as accepted ways of operating. It is only in the last decade that these practices have come to be seen as inconsistent with the development of the country and ones that would have been rejected outright by Mohandas Gandhi as inconsistent and repelling to his India of Hind Swaraj. In a 545 page judgement the Special Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkarm Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravikumar, stated that- "This is a sui generis (unique) legislation... The Parliament enacted the Act as a result of the international commitment to sternly deal with the menace of money laundering of proceeds of crime having transnational consequences." Mohandas Gandhi would be appalled by how elected ministries operated in the India that followed in the first decades after 1947. Not only were some of the basic principles of honest government being violated, it was being done with such impunity that over time it crept into the culture of how things operated in India, destroying any confidence the people had in the responsibilities of government and its ability to deliver on those responsibilities. The Supreme Court has now taken up the task of restoring some of the integrity of Gandhi's Hind Swaraj with its statement that- "Money laundering is an offence against the sovereignty and integrity of the country." Money laundering the SC says is "every process and activity", direct or indirect dealing with the proceeds of crime. Justice Khanwilkar wrote: "Today, if one dives deep into the financial systems, anywhere in the world, it is seen that once a financial mastermind can integrate the illegitimate money into the bloodstream of an economy, it is almost indistinguishable. In fact the money can simply be wired abroad at one click of the mouse. It is well known that once this money leaves the country, it is almost impossible to get it back. Hence a simplistic argument  that Section 3 (offence of money laundering) should only find force once the money has been laundered, does not commend to us."   ...

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Biden has put forward a new initiative to strengthen democracy by getting increased commitments to key features for democratic processes in the world. The idea is not to limit partnerships with other countries says Anthony Blinken, Mr. Biden's main adviser and secretary of state. This means India a key partner in both democracy and the Indo-Pacific can for defending its thousands of miles of border in the high Himalayas with enroachment of China into border areas such as Tibet, maintain its good legacy relationships with Russia as happened in last weeks Modi-Putin meeting.  The idea says Blinken is- "The US does not want to limit your partnerships with other countries. We want to make your partnerships with us even stronger." This means the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, can maintain economic and development related ties with China which contribute to their economy, and build stronger relationships of culture and democratic processes with the US, India, European Union and Japan. For this reason the White House has emphasized that this is not about the US giving stamp of approval or disapproval of which country is a democracy and which is not. Too much of that happened under previous governments including Reagan, Carter, Bush, Obama.  The situation of Turkey relates to independence of judiciary and the unwillingness to take another look at problems. There is also the issue of technology is to be used so that citizens are protected from undue surveillance. Mistakes can be made but judiciary acts as an independent branch under the arrangements of checks and balances in American, British and now European frameworks of democracy built over centuries of struggle between monarchies and the people dating back to the Magna Carta in Britain. Neglect of workers and families also is an issue for democracies as for instance the effort now taking place in Germany under Scholz to "respect" workers and families. Lack of this led to the movements in US and European democracies giving room to vent that could ultimately lead to subverting democracies in the homeplace of democracies in the US or Britain. Why such a large gathering of 100 countries? Biden understands that the processes of democracy are always being improved and are a work for each new generation. For this reason there is no perfect scorecard- an ever renewing effort to make the process work in the best interests of the people of the country one generation at a time, to improve the quality of life and do this by preserving the right of peoples to choose their governments.  Why exclude China and Russia, till recently China had a consultative arrangement to run the country and Russia has elections? On this question the response of the Biden administration is that countries commit to the process and back initiatives to "counter authoritarianism. combat corruption, and promote respect for human rights."   Pakistan because it struggles with a long legacy of shortfall in the area of education after the collapse of Mughal rule that was seen under the British, and the general poverty of the Indian subcontinent that is striving to preserve the practice of elections, judiciary, and other democratic processes that were introduced in the Punjab and Sind provinces, and elsewhere since 1900. This is true for much of Africa, and also in parts of India, where aspirations of the people are for democratic process but faced with difficulties, corruption and poverty. In India the efforts of Naoroji, Gokhale, Gandhi, Nehru and Rajagopachari, Govind Pant, almost all leaders of the period since the 1850's, and able well meaning administrators since Lord Mayo in 1868 were to let democratic processes gradually find deep roots. Biden see aspirational in the face of difficulties as acceptable, even truly remarkable, with a willingness to learn from other countries to strengthen its own processes for democracy. It is no longer an Anglo-Saxon model alone as Germany and Europe are part of this process to be renewed by each generation. So are India and Japan. India after a century of elections since 1900 gradually expanding voters from one million to 5 million in the 1930's and to 900 million in 2019, with independent judiciary in a system of checks and balances as in the US.    ...

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Pictures for the opening of the Taj Mahal in India.

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"Ram Rajya" is a concept of a just society that serves the needs of the people based on the ancient history and ancient paths of Bharat or India. It is easily understood among the farmers and ordinary people of India. During the long period of colonialism it meant to Gandhi and hundreds of millions in the villages of India a sense of society free of colonialism and colonial rule that did not invest in the country or its people, no matter their religion or caste or language group. In this sense Ram Rajya is all about a just society of governance that meets the needs of all the people, that makes investment in the resources of the country to the benefit of the people. In the modern period in the transformation of rural societies such as China or India or other parts of Asia, Ram Rajya or Buddha Rajya as an extension of the same concept, and about what Abraham Lincoln called society for the people, of the people, by the people, in his call to America for a Just Society. In this sense it has connotations for the world as it struggles to build a style of governance in society that builds the infrastructure, invests in the education and minds of the people, in their health and wellbeing along all dimensions. In this way it is a social concept that is embodied in the best of human society throughout history. It embodies the aspirations of the people of Asia to modernity inspired by ancient tradition, aspirations to science and technology and building modern societies. Of India with Ram and the Buddha, China in its connections to the Buddha, to the people of Indonesia with the connection to Hanuman, and the people in South East Asia and Japan through their connections to the Buddha which were embedded in the ancient society of Ram and the Upanishads in the land south of the Himalayas. No one is too small, no effort is ordinary or small- "I am very small, I am very ordinary, if someone thinks so one must remember the contribution of the squirrel. Remmbering the ocntribution of the squirrel will dispel our hesitation, and teach us that every effort big or small, has its strength and contribution. The foundation of Sabka Prayas (everyone's efforts) will be the foundation of a divine, and capable, just and good Bharat or India for all its 1400 million people."   ...