In Mint today, my take on Infrastructure in Union Budget 2025 - beyond Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman income tax measures, many incentives for state governments in better urban quality of life, better tourism, deregulation to attract investments livemint.com/budget/budget-…

Impressive use of technology for better governance. Could be so easily done in India, since PFMS (Public Finance Management System)pfms.nic.in has all information in GoI as well as all state governments… now for the algorithms Ministry of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman

Time for Tax-eaters to become Tax-payers… or issue regular reports on how their tax money is spent, esp by state govts In July 1964, US President LBJ talked about ‘Turning Tax-eaters into Tax-payers’ More at millercenter.org/sites/default/… Listen at millercenter.org/listening-to-t…

An Indian perspective of US President Trump’s address to ‘Joint Session of Congress’ on 4 March 2025 linkedin.com/posts/spathak_…

We firmly stand with Kerala Chief Secretary Ms Sarada Muraleedharan, #IAS. A person’s true worth is known by her actions and achievements, not by the colour of skin. (1/2) indiatoday.in/india/kerala/s…

Taught a full course on Infrastructure to bright Scholars at Indian School of Public Policy Now for the 10 group assignments on projects chosen by them More at linkedin.com/posts/spathak_…

1990 to 2025, horseriding is still great fun In LBSNAA Mussoorie. Good to see many illustrious names in the honour board for best Officer Trainee. Full post at linkedin.com/posts/spathak_…

Proud to be United Service Institution of India Distinguished Fellow. Will help create robust ecosystem for indigenisation & self-reliance in emerging tech for Defence & Security. Also, did you know? Of the 14 peaks above 8000m, 6 are in India. See linkedin post at linkedin.com/posts/spathak_…

Very different perspective, ParanjoyGuhaThakurta & Gunjan Sinha. Expressways are meant for vehicles at high speed. For such vehicles, trees would be fatal risks in collisions. Nowhere in the world do access-controlled expressways have trees adjoining carriageway - there is always a

In Nov 2013, had written about the prevailing ‘decision-making strike’ and ‘investment strike’ - listing out six factors holding back decisions: 5Cs and 1 M. See link below. Do read and see how much is relevant even today? Much has improved by 2025 to reduce policy paralysis.

Aadhaar is a number linked to your fingerprints and iris. Nothing more. Aadhaar verification (with OTP) proves your identity. Easy to understand. Aadhaar is NOT a paper card, which can be photoshopped - passports, voter ID EPICs, high-school mark sheets, birth certificates can

How is India’s growth and ecosystem being viewed by various stakeholders? Some interactions over the last month with diverse groups of people in business, policy and global finance below. In Bangalore, spent an evening with a European company’s Global Executive Board. Fun

On my 3 day Berlin visit, much learning. #German companies, especially in Automotives and Semiconductors, diversifying their supply chains following the ABC approach: Anywhere But China. Current facilities in China would continue, but new capacities largely for local consumption.

For all those interested in quick justice in India, a must–read by the outstanding Dr Sumita Misra IAS In the next few years, criminal justice delivery ecosystem would improve in states that implement the 3 new laws well. Hope to see commercial and civil justice delivery ecosystems

From Berlin to Bihar…. For ‘India that is Bharat’ to do better, Bihar and Poorvanchal would need to grow much faster. Bihar’s rapid development depends upon capacity-building of Bihar Government’s 13 lakh employees to national and global levels. Was happy to contribute to ‘Bihar

How are voter lists updated in the US? Happy to see Hindi among 7 languages on the Voter Registration Card, an annual exercise by the Chicago Board of Elections. These cards are mailed to all voters. See photo, other languages include Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Korean & Tagalog.