The single most significant aspect of this book is that it's under the byline of Kamal Nath, arguably India's most talented and resourceful politician since Independence. In fact, he's 61 years old -- just a year older than Modern India, which was carved out of the British Raj in 1947.  There are those who predict that he will some day be the country's prime minister, and, indeed, some of his friends are already canvassing in his behalf. Mr. Nath's intrinsic decency and good nature make...

By Francis Matthew, Editor at Large, Gulf News, Dubai Published: November 19, 2008, 23:15 The UAE has a very young population which has been educated from a curriculum which is global and outward-looking in spirit, in contrast to some other countries in the region which have fostered more conservative and inward-looking schooling or more Islamic curriculums. The widespread awareness of the outside world in the UAE is a vital asset that the country will be able to benefit from in the next few...

By Pranay Gupte   It all seems terribly familiar, the chaos and uncertainty in Iran these days -- the daily headlines that highlight protests, the television images of vast crowds in a state of agitation, the truncheon-wielding cops plowing through swarms of people, the vague sense that some major social upheaval is being generated, however inchoate.   It may be premature to call today’s angst a full-scale revolution, but in my mind, at least, there are hauntin...

The wild ride is over but don't rule out Dubai comeback By Roula Khalaf Published in the Financial Times: April 9, 2009 Traffic is thinner, housing prices are in freefall, and hotels are more affordable. Schools that once furiously turned students away are suddenly welcoming, and snobbish sports clubs are unexpectedly friendly. This is the new Dubai - a city that, for the fortunate ones who are holding on to their jobs, now feels a lot more pleasant. The gossip among expatriates - and ...

Do not believe reports of Dubai’s demise By Afshin Molavi Published: March 11 2009 22:11 | Last updated: March 11 2009 22:11 Dubai must feel a little like Mark Twain, these days. Upon reading his own obituary in the newspaper, Twain wrote: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Dubai has had its share of obituaries as it suffers from a property bust and contagion from the global credit crisis. Headlines from Cairo to London to New York, laced with schadenfre...

1. Barack Obama will take major steps toward fixing the US economy. But very hard times still lie ahead. 2. Shashi Tharoor will replace Pranab Mukherjee as India's foreign minister. 3. If the Congress wins the national elections in March or April, Indian National Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi will choose Shashi Tharoor as the prime minister. 4. Rahul Singh will get married. 5. Despite the global financial turmoil, the United Arab Emirates will do all right.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: WILL NAVIN RAMGOOLAM COME INTO HIS OWN? (Published in The Hindu, India, May 9, 2010)   By Pranay Gupte   For an island-nation of barely 1.3 million people who live on a speck of verdant but craggy territory in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius is more riven by the politics of communalism than one might expect in a tiny democracy. Last week’s parliamentary election showed that the enthusiasm of voters for the ballot box notwithstanding, the chal...

Mauritius wants more Indian participation in economic development (Published in The Hindu, India, May 8, 2010)   By Pranay Gupte   Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Rashid Beebeejaun says that Mauritius wants greater participation by Indian companies in developing the infrastructure of this island-nation.   “Our bilateral relations have always been excellent, but we feel that there’s much more room for collaboration,” Mr. Beebeejaun said in an inte...

ELECTIONS IN MAURITIUS OFFER PROMISING PROSPECTS FOR INDIA (Published in The Hindu, India, May 7, 2010)   By Pranay Gupte   Now that the three-party alliance of Navin Ramgoolam has won 41 of the 60 seats in the Mauritius national parliament – more than double the number of Paul Berenger’s leftist Mouvement Militant Mauricien – there is general agreement that the 63-year-old former physician and lawyer has obtained a powerful mandate to implement economi...

PORT LOUIS, Mauritius -- Navin Ramgoolam of Mauritius, who’s leading a three-party coalition in the national parliamentary election that is scheduled for May 5, is determined to win a second consecutive term as this island-nation’s prime minister.   Anecdotal observation suggests that he’s likely to win and that, in his next five-year term, the 1.3 million people of Mauritius expect him to lead a government that will heal the growing rifts between the country’s...

By Pranay Gupte (Published in Khaleej Times, April 12, 2010)    Take away the stunning greenery and jagged mountains from Mauritius, take away the rolling pastures, take away the vast sugarcane plantations, and take away the bustling hamlets with their narrow twisting roads – and one could be forgiven for feeling that this is Dubai-in-the-Indian-Ocean, a clean place where waves wash gently on the shores and enterprise is encouraged.   Both entities have po...

By PRANAY GUPTE (Published in The Hindu, April 2, 2010)  PORT LOUIS, Mauritius – When Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam of Mauritius dissolved the island-state’s 70-member National Assembly late Wednesday evening and called for new elections on May 5, there seemed to be an element of political drama to his announcement.   The drama, of course, was deliberate, but it had little to do with the election announcement itself: everybody in Mauritius knew that polls would be...

My new book, "Mother India: A Political Biography of Indira Gandhi," has just been published by Viking Penguin (India). The 600-page book marks the 25th anniversary of the assassination of the Indian prime minister.    Review copies and author interviews can be obtained by contacting Hemali Sodhi at Penguin. Her e-mail: hemali.sodhi@in.penguingroup.com

The Power of “Yes!”   By Howard Leedham, M.B.E.   (Note: Howard Leedham, M.B.E., is Chief Executive of Burj Holding in Dubai.)   During the 1980’s a British Bank used to run a television commercial using the catch phrase that it was the “The Bank that likes to say Yes”! Of course while many who watched British TV through those times can doubtless remember the phrase, probably only a few can remember the bank, which was TSB (lat...

By Pranay Gupte (Published in Khaleej Times, November 10, 2010)   President Barack Obama of the United States spoke fulsomely about shared values between his country and India of tolerance and cultural understanding, and of sustainable economic development during his three-day visit to this week. But he could just as well have been talking about the United Arab Emirates.   Of course, the demographic scales are different. The ethnicities are different. And the political e...