Shivanand Kanavi

All stories by Shivanand Kanavi

'Nuclear Has To Get Into Achche Din'

'Nuclear Has To Get Into Achche Din'

Rediff.com20 May 2024

'Chinese are going bang, bang, bang building 30-35 reactors.' 'We should announce a programme of 50 new reactors and show that we mean business on the ground and not just announcements.'

'US Can't Take Indians As Guinea Pigs'

'US Can't Take Indians As Guinea Pigs'

Rediff.com20 May 2024

'Why should we disclose classified information to satisfy those who doubt our Hydrogen Bomb capability?'

Jugaad An Insult To Indian Innovation?

Jugaad An Insult To Indian Innovation?

Rediff.com6 May 2022

'When resources are few; when frugality demands repairing a broken thing rather than replacing it with a brand new and expensive option, enterprising commoners in rural and urban India improvise on a daily basis and solve their problems with whatever they have,' observes Shivanand Kanavi.

'Why and how did science in India stagnate?'

'Why and how did science in India stagnate?'

Rediff.com15 Dec 2020

'It looked as if India had been a major player in science at that time, raising the question when and why things changed,' says distinguished aerospace scientist Professor Roddam Narasimha.

'For 1,400 years India led the world in science'

'For 1,400 years India led the world in science'

Rediff.com15 Dec 2020

'Some Indians take the extreme view that everything was known to our ancients, but others go to the opposite extreme and consider everything Indian was superstition and rubbish.' 'Indian science was perhaps more rational than the European science of the time.'

The visionary who made Indian IT industry global

The visionary who made Indian IT industry global

Rediff.com7 Dec 2020

One should appreciate the sagacity and audacity of JRD and Nani Palkhivala in founding TCS on April 1, 1968. At that time there was no Microsoft or Intel, SAP or Accenture, much less Google.
They needed a person who could build and execute their vision: A frontiersman; a problem solver and an institution builder. It was their and India's good fortune that Faqir Chand Kohli more than measured up to their requirements and indeed laid the foundation to take TCS to unimaginable heights and to the giant success that it is today. Shivanand Kanavi salutes the incomparable F C Kohli, who passed into the ages last week.

How F C Kohli and TCS conquered the world

How F C Kohli and TCS conquered the world

Rediff.com7 Dec 2020

Combining affordable IT with native Indian ingenuity and entrepreneurship F C Kohli believed would enable Indian small businesses match anyone and thrive.

Why BECA when we have NavIC?

Why BECA when we have NavIC?

Rediff.com27 Oct 2020

'The goal seems to be that we do not invest further in our system to make our system more accurate and more reliable or more global in reach,' an ISRO source tells Shivanand Kanavi.

'Oh, you are Kakodkar!', President Bush exclaimed

'Oh, you are Kakodkar!', President Bush exclaimed

Rediff.com30 Nov 2019

Dr Kakodkar's strategic stubbornness ultimately got India what it wanted though the negotiations with the US went to the wire, notes Shivanand Kanavi.

Billionaires have always called the shots in India

Billionaires have always called the shots in India

Rediff.com12 Sep 2018

'James Crabtree ignores the emergence of a nexus between business and politics going back to the 1920s and talks of it as a new child of 21st century India,' says Shivanand Kanavi.

'Rainfall is one of the hardest things to predict'

'Rainfall is one of the hardest things to predict'

Rediff.com16 Jul 2018

'Temperature and wind can be predicted more easily than rainfall.' 'Rainfall, as common experience suggests, is very spotty.' 'The last bit of physics required that tells us whether it is going to rain or not is very hard.' Professor Roddam Narasimha, the eminent scientist, explains the monsoon, climate change and global warming, in a fascinating conversation with Shivanand Kanavi.

'We are more interested in the monsoon than anyone else in the world'

'We are more interested in the monsoon than anyone else in the world'

Rediff.com16 Jul 2018

'It affects our economy, it is very important in many ways.' 'So we have to be the foremost experts in the world on the monsoon.' 'But the best minds in India have not devoted their time to the study of monsoon and they have followed the fashions of the West.'

20 years after Pokhran: PMs and India's nuclear ambitions

20 years after Pokhran: PMs and India's nuclear ambitions

Rediff.com11 May 2018

20 years ago this day, May 11, 1998, India conducted its second nuclear test at Pokharan in Rajasthan. In a fascinating interview on Rediff.com, K Subrahmanyam revealed how Indian PMs reacted to nuclear ambitions.

TCS@50: Why India must be in eternal debt to F C Kohli

TCS@50: Why India must be in eternal debt to F C Kohli

Rediff.com31 Mar 2018

50 years ago, on April 1, 1968, Tata Consultancy Services -- now India's leading IT company -- was born. The foundation for TCS was laid by Faqir Chand Kohli whose life touched directly or indirectly many, many, Indians, says Shivanand Kanavi.

'We want 60 launches in 5 years'

'We want 60 launches in 5 years'

Rediff.com14 Jan 2018

'We are looking at a joint venture between ISRO and a few companies to assemble the PSLV and launch it from Sriharikota.' 'In a month or two, the vehicle assembly building will be ready.' 'After that, we could see 13, 14 launches a year.'

'If we make proper choices, we'll be a great nation'

'If we make proper choices, we'll be a great nation'

Rediff.com7 Jan 2018

'If not, we can become frighteningly chaotic, more chaotic than what we are today.' 'In today's environment in the country, we still have a window of opportunity.'

Shining the light on an Era of Darkness

Shining the light on an Era of Darkness

Rediff.com10 Jan 2017

'I would recommend every young Indian reads Shashi Tharoor's book to get a perspective of our colonial past in the present day mesmerising euphoria of the global village in spite of Donald Trump, says Shivanand Kanavi.

How the Internet was born, 25 years ago

How the Internet was born, 25 years ago

Rediff.com13 Nov 2015

November 12 marks 25 years of the beginning of the World Wide Web. Shivanand Kanavi gives us the story of how it all began.

The Hollywood Star and CDMA

The Hollywood Star and CDMA

Rediff.com9 Nov 2015

She was a Hollywood star, much sought after. She also helped invented technology which changed the world.

The Courageous Professor M M Kalburgi: A Tribute

The Courageous Professor M M Kalburgi: A Tribute

Rediff.com31 Aug 2015

'In today's India very few would, of course, stand Basavanna's test. This led Professor Kalburgi to not only take on casteist and conservative forces in general, but also some powerful conservatives among Lingayats.' 'Conservatives found him polarising and some researchers disagreed with his speculations while admiring his scholarship, but he posited that culture studies and historians have to perforce join the dots, speculate, interpret, interpolate, extrapolate and take leaps to make progress even if some of them later turn out to be wrong.' Shivanand Kanavi salutes Professor M M Kalburgi, the scholar who was assassinated in Dharwad on Sunday, August 30.

Next