Emergic: Rajesh Jain's Blog

Being part of this movement to help transform India is what I propose to do going ahead. We cannot sit by silently and watch the extraction and exploitation continue. It is only when some among us start getting outraged at what we see happening that the wheels will be set in motion. But this has [...]

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This is what I wrote earlier this year: People in India need to understand that things are not going well, and there is an alternate future that can be crafted – and which will not be created by those who are responsible for ensuring that India has still stayed poor more than 60 years after [...]

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To bring about change in the country, we need to bring about a change in people’s thinking. Awareness will lead to Action. There are many things that we don’t know about our past. India’s poverty need not have been so. The quality of life in our cities could have been much better. Our children should [...]

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The last few months have been a disappointing chapter in India’s history. Just when we should have been powering ahead on the development front, we have stumbled. Corruption scandals have shown how, besides the politicians being venal, many of our institutions too have been compromised. The biggest disappointment has been that the person with the [...]

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To transform India’s future, we need to change the direction of India’s policies. That needs political change. And for political change, we need Middle India to come together, which will only people when there is a greater awareness of the wrong path we are on. Awareness will lead to Action. That is what I hope [...]

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The answer to transforming India’s future lies with us, the people of India. This is what I wrote in my series in May 2010 entitled “It’s Up To Us Now“: Middle class India has many more people than the few required for change. These are the people who are frustrated with the state of affairs, [...]

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I followed this up with answers to two questions about India and Change in April 2010: If there was ONE thing you could Change about India, what would it be? Middle India Apathy towards the nation. It is almost as if most of us in Middle India (young, educated in urban India) have switched off [...]

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In late January 2010, I asked and answered three questions which help lay out the agenda for India’s future: 1. What are the 2-3 big issues that will present the most challenges and opportunities for India? Quality Education Jobs Creation Urbanisation (moving India’s rural people to livable new cities) Corruption 2. Which ideas/issues would resonate [...]

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In January 2010, a year after I made the decision to support the BJP and help start Friends of BJP, I reflected: A number of people whom I meet (along with others who have commented on various blog posts) ask me whether I think I made the right decision given the results of the elections [...]

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From that support emerged the genesis of the idea of Friends of BJP (of which I am now the National Convenor). Here is what I wrote in late Jan 2009: As citizens of India, we have a duty to help build a Better India. The 20 of a week ago are now 200. We need [...]

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It was in that context that I coincidentally met one of the senior leaders from the BJP. For me, the decision to support the BJP was a natural one given our family voting history. Something about the dynastic Congress didn’t seem right, even though my history lessons had taught me otherwise. From brainstorming sessions with [...]

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26/11 and the political response to it made me realise how hollow and shallow our own leadership was. The elections provided an opportunity to do something. A question I asked myself was: What can we do? This is how I answered it in early Jan 2009: There are about 100 days to the elections in [...]

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Obama’s campaign energised the US, and I could not help wonder what it would take for us in India to get excited about a leader. I was in the US the night the results were declared, and it was an electric feeling all around. This is what I wrote shortly after in November 2008: It [...]

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It was almost exactly two years ago that I made a decision that added a new dimension to my life. That decision was to support the BJP in the 2009 elections and help start the Friends of BJP. Two years later, that decision, more than anything else, is shaping my future. I used to be [...]

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