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My Column 21-03-2026

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My Column 21-03-2026

Shashank Purandare

I am writing to my readers after a fairly long gap due to personal reasons. Today I have inclination and time, both.

The gulf war is raging fiercely for more than three weeks. The agenda of the war was clear from the begining. Israel is always feeling threatened by Islamic countries for obvious reasons. They pulled USA into this war with President Trump as a more than willing ally. USA is in this due to 1) domestic pressurs on Trump, 2) Oil of course, and 3) To show the world that they are the most powerful nation, economically and millitarily, in the world.

For Trump, Iran was never a threat. Weakening dollar, more and more dependency on the rest of the world for its domestic consumptions and need to source technical excellence from the outside world are the things that ae hurting the USA most. China and Russia pose bigger threats to USA but they are powerless to act against them. Trump tried tarrifs, but it did not give the expected results. Tarrifs are hurting the USA more than the rest of the world. Europe, once atrusted ally of the USA is remaining neutral and is in fact resisting the tarrifs. USA has a large external debt. Chinese ulling the plug on US bond market has sent the bond yield spiralling. Cost of living in The USA has gone up. Whether Trump will survive the midterm elections in US is a big question.

Meanwhile, gulf war is affecting the whole world. We are still dependent on oil and gas for energy. The dream of alternate energy sources is still a DREAM. Whenever Indian government tries to build nuclear plants for energy, there is a huge opposition. We are still trying to restart semiconductor mission. But the fruits are still a few years further.

The BJP government has decimated the opposition. Their behaviour is also not helping. Congress cling to power for years together using 20% minority votes. Now BJP has almost 50-60% majority vote bank. Politics and corruption go hand in hand and BJP is no exception. But to the credit of BJP government, I can see for myself a huge infra development taking place.

In Maharashtra, death of Ajit Pawar has created a big vacuum. It is difficult to see NCP surviving this loss in the long run. Both the Thakre's are also fighting for survival. Absence of viable opposition is a real worring picture.

Opposition and media, as expected, are blaming the government for scarcity of oil and gas. But theneutral stance of Indian government seems to be working. But the suffereing of general public will continue for next few months. But the entire world is suffering.

Please understand that these are my personal musing based on my readings and news reports. Readers are free to form their own opinion.

A very happy new year to all my readers again!