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Jan 5, 2025 | 
indianexpress.com | Vikram Mehta
Seventy countries went to the polls in 2024. One thread linked the results of all the elections. The electorate voted against the incumbent leadership. In some countries, notably the USA and the UK, the ruling party was turfed out of office. In others like France and Japan, the leadership returned to power with a reduced mandate. Many commentators have provided an explanation for this wave of anti-incumbency.
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Dec 1, 2024 | 
indianexpress.com | Vikram Mehta
The oldest surviving tablets of written text are from the Sumerian civilisation. They date back 4,200 years and tell the story of King Gilgamesh of Uruk. Gilgamesh was a tyrant who brutalised his subjects. The people were unhappy and appealed to the pantheon of Sumerian deities. In response, the gods created an exact double of Gilgamesh called Enkidu with comparable power and authority.
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
indianexpress.com | Vikram Mehta
My father, Jagat Singh Mehta, offered more tangibly positive anecdotes. One in particular has contemporary relevance. Soon after his appointment as foreign secretary in 1976, he led a delegation to Islamabad to restore ambassadorial ties. Diplomatic relations had been downgraded to the level of charge d’affairs after the Bangladesh war.
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Oct 6, 2024 | 
indianexpress.com | Vikram Mehta
A year ago, Hamas killed over 1,000 Israeli civilians. Israel reacted with ferocity. They bombed Gaza to rubble. Thousands of innocent Palestinians were killed, including predictably many children. I say predictably because more than 50 per cent of Gaza’s 2.2 million population are (were?) below the age of 18. Both combatants have drawn wide condemnation but that has not contained the conflict. Israel has extended the fighting into Lebanon.
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Sep 3, 2024 | 
elevatorworld.com | Madeleine Olausson |IoT’s Role |Vikram Mehta |Thomas Salter
submitted by Access BDDAccess BDD, in conjunction with one of its North American business partners — 101 Mobility — helped a New Jersey family continue to live in their home by installing a Flow X curved stairlift. Robert Anderson had been finding the stairs increasingly challenging, and his wife, Judith, noticed that he was becoming weaker due to muscle wastage.
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Sep 3, 2024 | 
elevatorworld.com | Angie Baldwin |IoT’s Role |Vikram Mehta |Madeleine Olausson
The survival of a 1927 specification and tender for an electric goods lift, prepared by Smith, Major and Stevens, Ltd. for the Atlas Works (Shrewsbury), provides a unique opportunity to examine vertical-transportation (VT) industry business practices in the late 1920s. Part one of this article (1927 Smith, Major & Stevens Specification & Tender (Part 1)) offered an overview of the history of Smith, Major and Stevens from its founding in the early 1800s to the 1920s.
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Sep 3, 2024 | 
elevatorworld.com | Thomas Salter |Vikram Mehta |Lindsay Fletcher |IoT’s Role
Thursday 23 May started overcast and grey, but fortunately the clouds broke up during the day, and by the time a group of us were 109-m up in the air at the Battersea Power Station sketching the London skyline, there was plenty of sunshine and marvellous views of the city. The event was fully subscribed with 14 participants looking forward to combining sketching with great panoramas of the city. Most attendees had travelled from within, or just outside of, London.
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Sep 1, 2024 | 
indianexpress.com | Vikram Mehta
I found the workshop useful not because of what was said or what I learnt but because it triggered reflection on corporate vocabulary, processes and governance. It struck me that notwithstanding the radical and transformative nature of AI/AGI, the questions and responses were structured for the pre-AI era.
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Aug 6, 2024 | 
indianexpress.com | Vikram Mehta
Reflecting on India’s green energy transition, three thoughts come to the fore. One, it is not a uniform national transition. There are several, varying state-led transitions. Two, there is tension between the drivers of this transition and our trade policy. Three, there is an imbalance between the realpolitik of governance and the ethical imperative of sustainable development. What should be the actions that flow from these thoughts is beyond the scope of this article.
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Jun 30, 2024 | 
indianexpress.com | Vikram Mehta
As readers of this column might know, I have a home inside the sanctuary. Last month, a massive fire engulfed the forest. It raged for days. Five firefighters lost their lives and three are in hospital. My wife and I were witness to this tragedy. This article is not to cast blame, but to offer learnings from my experience to prevent, mitigate and manage such natural disasters in the future. Forest fires are perennial.
