Shai Venkatraman retweeted
A Life That Served a Purpose
In a world chasing fleeting applause, some souls choose the long, quiet road of service. Today, welfare economist Jean Drèze has been honoured with a global award for his profound research on poverty and inequality in India.
Born in Belgium, he made India his home and its people his purpose. With a scholar’s rigour and a revolutionary’s heart, he stood beside the forgotten—documenting their struggles, amplifying their voices, and shaping policies that reached millions.
His tireless advocacy helped birth two landmark legislations that still stand as lifelines: the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which offered dignity through work to the rural poor, and the National Food Security Act, which sought to ensure no one sleeps hungry in a land of plenty.
This is not just an award. It is recognition of a life lived in radical empathy. Of choosing dusty villages over ivory towers. Of measuring success not in citations or comfort, but in the quiet lifting of human suffering.
Jean Drèze reminds us that the highest calling is to use one’s intellect, privilege, and time in the service of those who have the least.
In an age of cynicism, his journey is a living ode:
To knowledge that heals. To scholarship that serves. To a life that mattered.
Congratulations and Thank You Professor Drèze.
India is better because you walked among us.
May your example inspire a new generation to stop performing compassion and start practising it—with depth, persistence, and love.
🧡 🙏
#JeanDreze #ServiceAboveSelf #India #SocialJustice
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
He doesn’t have the luxury of normal democratic conditions like institutional fairness, media plurality, financial parity, and the rule of law that is applied equally.
I write ✍️
Still, @RahulGandhi has chosen to fight with what might seem the most inadequate of weapons: moral clarity, ideological consistency, and human empathy.
@Ram_Guha Ramchandra Guha, after terrible decision to support Modi in 2014, now, searches for another messiah. He risks repeating the error: demanding perfection from an opposition leader who is overcoming unfair limits, with hands tied, facing constant hardships and battling the elements. Guha fails to recognise these chains and fetters.
It takes tremendous courage to be democratic in the absence of democratic space. To stand up for an idea knowing fully well that there is huge personal cost to be paid for it.
Rahul Gandhi knows that he will be attacked and vilified. He knows his supporters will be attacked and vilified. But he still fights on. His approach can best be described in the words of Kabir, who understood about the nature of moral commitment in a hostile world:
कबीरा खड़ा बाज़ार में, मांगे सबकी खैर।
ना काहू से दोस्ती, ना काहू से बैर।।
कबीरा खड़ा बाज़ार में, लिए लुकाठी हाथ।
जो घर फूँके आपना, चले हमारे साथ।।
Dictatorial systems do not allow democratic functioning to proceed on level terms. If someone is standing firm within such a system, refusing to be broken or bought or diverted, there has to be a reason rooted in the quality of their leadership.
@INCIndia @kharge @RahulGandhi
@thewire_in
thewire.in/politics/mind-ove…
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
Mohammed Riyazuddin, 61, a mattress shop owner who gave all his mattresses and bedsheets away in the rescue operation during the deadly blaze killing 21 people.
His quick thinking and courage saved many lives. "Aaj sab kuch de dijiye humne," he told @htTweets
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
#NDTVExclusive | ‘दो लाख रुपये के गद्दे मैंने लोगों को बचाने के लिए बिछा दिए... मुझे सुकून है कि इस वजह से 8-12 लोगों की जान बच गई...'- NDTV से बोले गद्दे की दुकान के मालिक रियाजुद्दीन
@ravishranjanshu | #Delhi | #MalviyaNagar
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
When systems fail, individual heroes rise. These are people who rescued people and administered CPR in the hauz rani fire . (L to R) Amir Khan, Mohd Shoaib, Wasim Raja and Mohd Afzal
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
🚨 A Palestinian mom was shot point blank in her head by IDF soldiers while she was carrying her child.
Retweet and expose Israel if you have a little Humanity left in you.
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
Insisting on handshake = sexual harassment?
What #MadrasHC has said is straight out of the #POSHAct, the act clearly states that it is the impact that matters and not the intent: Abhirami Shankar, Certified Posh Trainer
Watch #TheUrbanDebate with @shreyadhoundial
@livelawindia @barandbench @eduminindia @nlsiuofficial Highly heartless & mindless of @consortiumnlus to introduce a new rule at the nth hour that requires students to radically change how they give CLAT.
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
Entirely agree with Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala. India needs to technologically leapfrog and not get stuck in intermediate technologies. We must be clear of our goal - replacement of fossil fuel by renewable energy electricity and its use for mobility. State Govts must ensure predictability and consistency of policies to fully support the EV revolution. We must aim to be the global champion of EV vehicles which are Made in India.
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
Dear Vinesh, It is said that sport is a celebration of human will. I have known that to be true many times in my career but never has it resonated more than today. As I look around me, I see a nation and its people celebrate your unyielding resolve.
You are a fighter – on and off the mat. Through you, we are learning what it means to never lose the fight in us, even as a loss weighs heavily. You embody the true spirit of a warrior.
Not all victories look alike. Some end up as a glittering souvenir in a cabinet but the ones that matter more find their way into the stories we tell our children. And every child in this country will know the champion you are. Every child will grow up wanting to face life with the resilience you have displayed. I thank you for that.
Respect,
Abhinav Bindra
@phogat_vinesh
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
Completely gutted . Sometimes u dont need a gold medal to be a true champion to people….
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
Couldn’t file the story yesterday but will be published shortly. Heroes are not born, rather you become one. From a village next to the spot, these young men sacrificed their #Eid and became the first respondents to the #TrainAccident in #Bengal yesterday. They rescued and saved several lives. On the day of EID they could only offer the morning namaz and the rest of the day went by in helping the distressed passengers. In the evening, they were unwilling to celebrate. One of them told me “we wish we could save one passenger we were ferrying to hospital, our prayers would have been accepted, alas”
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
Three cheers for Mamata Banerjee, the only woman Chief Minister and mass leader in India, who has sent the maximum number of women MPs to Parliament. Our story today
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
Congratulations Iqra Munawwar Hasan!
In the highly patriarchal political space of West UP, Iqra was active, vocal, visible, fighting, struggling, asserting for the last two years.
She wrested the Kairana seat from BJP and got support across all castes and communities.
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
It’s revealing that the English newspapers that functioned as proper news providers were headquartered in states not ruled by the BJP. The Telegraph in Calcutta, the Deccan Herald in Bangalore and the Hindu in Chennai. The invertebrates centred in Delhi & Mumbai played along.
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
Whatever happens by the evening, the INDIA alliance fought a very spirited election, with their leaders in jail, their bank account frozen and utterly partisan media. This is a moral defeat for BJP
Shai Venkatraman retweeted
We are launching Caravan as a print magazine in Hindi. Even as journalism is in retreat across the world, our goal is to reach out in every Indian language with the best of what we do.
Become a @thecaravanhindi subscriber today by clicking the link below: hindi.caravanmagazine.in/sub…