Random Thoughts - Pattabhi Sitaraman

The Mitrokhin Archives that was brought out as a book by Christopher Andrew is a revelation about many things that are unknown to many Indians. Let us take a look at the way things shaped up in the last seventy odd years since independence.  The government of India that came into being in 1947 since country's independence from the British had been plagued by infiltration by many foreign intelligence agencies.  In the early years of the country as an independent nation, the most feared intelligence agency of USSR was slowly cultivating the people   from the top  in various levels of administration.  The diplomats and others who were posted to the Kremlin Embassy of India from that time were compromised using the age old trick of honey traps, bribes and un-manageable debts.  KGB managed to get the cipher codes and the books for decrypting the messages.  There was not a single message from the Indian embassy in Kremlin that went without the knowledge of...

In the 1970s, USA and Canada tested the practice of Universal Basic Income (UBI) and found that there was still a large gap between the requirements of a decent living and the availability of resources.  The UBI or Basic Income Guarantee (BIG as it was known in US and Canada) was aimed at elderly and disabled and not for all.  But by the end of the decade and the beginning of the new decade, the BIG was more or less forgotten and now it is almost done and dusted.   The UBI found some traction in many European nations in the early 1980s.  There were clamour for the UBI in many countries from unemployed outside of political parties and spectrum.  Groups were formed forcing some social changes in respect of the laws of the country to introduce UBI. Some of the nations were thrilled by the famed economist Milton Friedman's proposal for a negative income tax.  However, not many nations joined the bandwagon to start the experiment in their nations, tho...

The attack by the Islamists on the Greater Indian Subcontinent happened in the early part of the common era when Mahmud of Gazni and Ghori made repeated attacks and plundered the riches of the country spread from the present day Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east.  The attacks left an indelible mark on the psyche of the people who were very pious and followers of the Sanathana Dharma and the off shoots like Budhism and Jainism.  The richness of the gangetic plains attracted hordes of marauders from the central Asian plateau into the country through the Khyber and Bolan mountain passes.  This  and the later day invasion by the Moghuls who started ruling the country from Delhi both directly and through their agents in different parts of the country  have been covered extensive ly by very many historians.  The vacation of power by the British and the Indian National Congress stand on the self rule resulted in the country getting partitio...