Tushar Mangl

On Sunday, IndiBlogger organized a blogger's meet at The Lalit at New Delhi. It was supposed to be a networking event and a product launch. Need I say this? That IndiBlogger people are great at organizing such meets? It was the first time I saw them using the bar code kind system where we got the passes via email and the code was scanned by the guys at the even. Simple, innovative system to check you in. The even kicked off with lunch. The sumptuous feast was a good time to interact with old blogger buddies whom I had met at previous such meets. These included Pankaj, Gaurav, Tarun and others. Also meet a new blogger Rachit, a young blogger who blogs about content marketing. Post lunch Anoop opened up the session with a fun game. It was to introduce yourself and pick a number from 1 to 10. ( No.3 interestingly never came up, I was thinking if I got a chance, I would say no 3). The program continued with a session with experts on growth and nutrition issues. This was qu

More than 90 lakh people in India have been affected by drought. Poor rainfall has been attributed to this condition. Of course, its easy to blame nature. The major effect it seems to be in one of the most prosperous states of India, Maharashtra. But the whole response to drought with long, meaning less notations of sympathy is suffocating. It almost makes you feel like puking listening to heroics of those who are pumping in crores of public money to ferry water to these regions. Here is why - The media is all gung -  ho about the drought and misery. It makes good story. It gives a nice PR opportunity for celebrities. In all this, the truth remains buried in plain sight. In the year 2002, in an economic survey stated that 70,000 crore rupees were spent in Maharashtra in ten years. Shockingly however the irrigation potential of state rose only 0.1%.  The people of Maharashtra it seems spent 70,000 crore plus on irrigation and still don't have a sound irrigation system to tide t