The Bored Engineer

A common theme that binds the growth story of all the nations that are on a developmental path is the cropping up of imperialism. The 20 th century poses the greatest and the most horrifying evidence of the premise but it’s not a singular example and all modern developed nations have a history of imperialism in some form or the other. Every century has its villains and victims, the actors change but the plot doesn’t deviate much. While the 20 th century showcased its brutality in the form of major world wars and some other wars, the 21 st century does not seem to a have a very promising start either. The wars may not have played themselves out yet but that does not mean the lack of underlying tensions. Resources are strained and the economies wishing to expand are fighting off till the last piece is up for grabs. In such a scenario, what does the upcoming world order hold for the retiring powers like America and Russia as well as the emergent ones like India and China? Wil...

In the Times of India editorial DIGITAL INDIA IS DYING dated(July 4, 2016) the author has made a pitch for some sort of protectionist policies being implementing to ‘save’ the digital start-ups in India which are in a nascent stage from their international or more importantly American competitors with deep pockets. The author makes a compelling case for Flipkart, Snapdeal and OLA which are facing stiff competition from Amazon and Uber. The author airs his fears of India becoming the digital colony of America just like Europe has been while praising china for it closed market which have given it a home grown versions of google and Facebook. While I don’t dispute the writers claims about Indian digital companies facing an uphill task against their American rivals but I doubt if we should ever take sides. We had a closed economy for a good 40 years simply because we felt so burnt and exploited of foreign colonial exploitation that had just ended that we missed the global growth...