Raktim Dutta

Where chaos meets clarity

[Trupti Garg @garg_trupti]

Mamata bano cursed Messi 😂

[Lakshmi M Puri @lakshmiunwomen]

Thanks to you, @AmbGurjitSingh. I was compelled to review your timely, essential, and important book on a subject I remain deeply engaged with in the context of the building blocks of India’s multi-alignment strategy. The Durian Flavour also made me revisit the trajectory of India–ASEAN ties and my own foundational association with the Look East policy, and its evolution into Act East under PM @Narendramodi ji.

You reflect on why India–ASEAN ties have acquired renewed strategic urgency in a fractured global order—where “interdependence, once a source of strength, has now become a source of vulnerability.” Drawing on your diplomatic experience, you offer an insider account of a pivotal phase, using the durian—the singular Southeast Asian fruit—as a metaphor for both the complexity and fruitfulness of the engagement.

You situate the relationship within the shift from Look East to Act East—“a change in intent; the real test now is to reap the East.” You rightly regret that, despite deep civilisational linkages, the partnership remains “diplomatically busy, but economically and socially underpowered.” Your book also calls for moving beyond governments to a wider ecosystem, while confronting the elephant in the room—the China factor—where, as you note, “strategic partnership cannot be built on the polite avoidance of hard economic truths,” particularly concerns around rules of origin.
Read the full article here:- https://t.co/NC2zKh4GzY

[Lakshmi M Puri @lakshmiunwomen]

Empowering Enterprise. Celebrating Excellence.

It was a privilege to join Le Extraordinaire – Season 8, an initiative of Magicka global, as Chief Guest on International Women’s Day, where 16 outstanding women were honoured—each a spark lighting the path for many more to follow.

My admiration for Magicka—a thriving ecosystem of over 1.57 lakh women MSMEs—only deepened. At its helm, Raizy Bedi and Rabbani Seth have not merely built an organisation; they have cultivated a living, breathing network of aspiration. Their leadership turns possibility into practice, and ambition into enterprise—stitching together a global sisterhood that now spans 16 countries.

Women-led MSMEs are not peripheral actors in the economy; they are its growth engines and its conscience. When women are given access to capital, markets, and mentorship, enterprise becomes empowerment, and empowerment becomes a multiplier—rippling through households, communities, and the nation at large.

Platforms like Magicka are not just enabling businesses; they are redrawing the economic map—placing women firmly at its centre, where they have always belonged.

[Hardeep Singh Puri @HardeepSPuri]

ਸੂਰਜ ਕਿਰਣਿ ਮਿਲੇ ਜਲ ਕਾ ਜਲੁ ਹੂਆ ਰਾਮ ॥
ਜੋਤੀ ਜੋਤਿ ਰਲੀ ਸੰਪੂਰਨੁ ਥੀਆ ਰਾਮ॥
ਮੀਰੀ ਪੀਰੀ ਦੇ ਮਾਲਿਕ, ਛੇਵੇਂ ਪਾਤਸ਼ਾਹ, ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਜੀ ਦੇ ਜੋਤੀ-ਜੋਤਿ ਦਿਵਸ ‘ਤੇ ਕੋਟਾਨ ਕੋਟਿ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਮ |
मीरी पीरी के मालिक, छठवें पातशाह, श्री गुरु हरगोबिंद साहिब जी के ज्योति ज्योत दिवस पर कोटि कोटि प्रणाम।

[Hardeep Singh Puri @HardeepSPuri]

My homage to young revolutionary freedom fighters Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Ji, Shaheed Rajguru Ji & Shaheed Sukhdev Ji on their Shaheedi Diwas.
Their dedication to the cause of India’s freedom & the way they went to the gallows with a smile is part of folklore which continues to inspire generations of Indians.

अमर बलिदानी, शहीद-ए-आज़म सरदार भगत सिंह जी, राजगुरु जी एवं सुखदेव जी के बलिदान दिवस पर उन्हें कोटि-कोटि प्रणाम।
माँ भारती की परतंत्रता की बेड़ियों को तोड़ने के लिए अपना सर्वस्व न्योछावर करने वाले इन अमर सपूतों का साहस, समर्पण और राष्ट्रप्रेम की भावना सदियों तक हमें 'राष्ट्र सर्वोपरि' की प्रेरणा देती रहेगी।

[Lakshmi M Puri @lakshmiunwomen]

Deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Ambassador Eric Gonsalves.

With him, we lost one of India’s earliest and most distinguished diplomats—a foundational figure who helped shape our foreign policy in its formative years.

Joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1950, he played a pivotal role in advancing India’s diplomacy during the Cold War era. Over an illustrious career, he served as Ambassador to Japan, Belgium, the European Economic Community and Luxembourg, as Minister (Political) in Washington D.C., and as Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs. Even beyond service, he remained deeply engaged with public life through institutions such as the India International Centre and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies.

For @HardeepSPuri ji & me, Eric and our dearest Rose Aunty were far more than distinguished figures—they were family.

On our very first posting, they embraced us with truly parental warmth. In Foreign Service lore, your first Ambassador can shape the diplomat you become—and we could not have been more fortunate. Rose Aunty “adopted” us, guiding us in what it meant to represent India with grace and dignity. For those of us who were “diplomatic tadpoles”, she was an anchor of affection and care.

Eric Uncle embodied diplomacy at its finest—marked by intellect, integrity, and generosity of spirit. Together, they set the highest standard of a Foreign Service couple.

One takes solace in the thought that he is now reunited with his beloved Rose.

We extend our deepest condolences to the Gonsalves family. In his life, he served the nation with quiet distinction; in his legacy, he continues to guide. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

[Hardeep Singh Puri @HardeepSPuri]

ਸੇਵਾ ਅਤੇ ਸਹਿਣਸ਼ੀਲਤਾ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਤੀਕ ਧੰਨ ਧੰਨ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਅੰਗਦ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ ਦੇ ਜੋਤੀ-ਜੋਤਿ ਦਿਵਸ ਤੇ ਕੋਟਾਨ ਕੋਟ ਪ੍ਰਣਾਮ |

ਗੁਰੂ ਅੰਗਦ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ ਨੇ ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ ਲਿਪੀ ਦੀ ਸੋਧ, ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਦੀ ਸੰਭਾਲ, ਵਿਦਿਅਕ ਅਤੇ ਸਰੀਰਕ ਪਾਠਸ਼ਾਲਾਵਾਂ ਦੀ ਸਥਾਪਨਾ ਕੀਤੀ ਅਤੇ ਮਾਤਾ ਖੀਵੀ ਜੀ ਨੂੰ ਲੰਗਰ ਦਾ ਮੁਖੀ ਥਾਪ ਕੇ ਇਸਤ���ੀ ਮਾਨ-ਸਨਮਾਨ ਵਿਚ ਵਾਧਾ ਪਾਇਆ|

सेवा और सहिष्णुता के प्रतीक, धन धन श्री गुरु अंगद देव जी के ज्योति ज्योत दिवस पर कोटि कोटि प्रणाम।

श्री गुरु अंगद देव जी ने गुरुमुखी लिपि का अनुसमर्थन किया, गुरबानी को संरक्षित किया, शैक्षिक और शारीरिक विद्यालयों की स्थापना और माता खिवी जी को लंगर के प्रमुख के रूप में नियुक्त किया |

[Hardeep Singh Puri @HardeepSPuri]

केंद्रीय कैबिनेट में मेरे साथी @jualoram जी को जन्मदिन की हार्दिक बधाई व शुभकामनाएं।

महाप्रभु श्री जगन्नाथ जी से उनके स्वस्थ जीवन व दीर्घायु की प्रार्थना है।

[Hardeep Singh Puri @HardeepSPuri]

बिहार राज्य की स्थापना दिवस पर समस्त बिहार-वासियों को हार्दिक बधाई एवं शुभकामनाएं।

PM @narendramodi ज��� के मार्गदर्शन व CM @NitishKumar जी के नेतृत्व में विकास पथ पर निरंतर गतिमान यह राज्य समृद्धि के नए प्रतिमान स्थापित करे, ईश्वर से यही कामना है।

[Lakshmi M Puri @lakshmiunwomen]

No Judgement Without Representation
India’s Case for a New Global Scoring Order!

In my latest piece in The Sunday Guardian, I take a closer look at how today’s global indices are shaped — largely by institutions based in the North Atlantic, with little comparable voice from the Global South. I encourage readers to examine the evidence, the comparisons, and the assumptions for themselves. What is presented as neutral benchmarking often raises deeper questions about fairness and perspective. From the USCIRF’s “motivated and biased characterisation” of India to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s shifting democracy rankings, the pattern suggests that what appears objective may, in fact, reflect a particular way of seeing the world.

I group this score-card factory into three tiers:
1️⃣ multilateral indices with clear mandates and transparent data;
2️⃣ opaque, self-appointed Western arbiters;
3️⃣ “Views” or independent surveys offering a face-to-face reflection of lived experience.

Yet India is already pushing back:
✔ NITI Aayog’s Multidimensional Poverty Index,
✔ a climb to 38th in World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index,
✔ top-ten climate scores,
✔ sovereign-rating upgrades, and
✔ Pew Research Center’s strong findings on public faith in our democracy.

As the article concludes, India should build international benchmarking with partners across the Global South — an Atma-Gyan, a mirror to a West grown complacent in its authority to judge. The demand this generation must make is many voices, many metrics, and the right of nations like India—with its civilizational gravitas, its democratic scale and economic weight—to define the standards by which they are measured.

[Hardeep Singh Puri @HardeepSPuri]

Lakshmi and I were very happy to receive our friend, former colleague and now the Lt. Governor of Delhi, Sardar @SandhuTaranjitS Ji and his wife Reenat Sandhu Ji today.
A friend from our days as officers of Indian Foreign Service, our association goes back several decades.
As residents of Delhi, we look forward to the transformation and development that Sandhu Ji will usher in the city where I was born and raised.

@LtGovDelhi @PetroleumMin @PIB_India

[Raktim Dutta @Battleflow_]

“Nobody should question the TMC regarding bringing Muslims upon BJP’s provocation.” — Mamata Banerjee

Why is communal mobilisation being justified openly by the Chief Minister of a state that claims to be “secular”?

[Raktim Dutta @Battleflow_]

The narrative that “Bengal is being divided” has been used several times in the past by TMC.

Now, as BJP’s Parivartan Yatra moves through districts and raises political pressure, many believe the TMC IT ecosystem is circulating this rumor to shift the narrative.

[PIB Fact Check @PIBFactCheck]

🚨 Fake News Alert

Social media posts are claiming that the Government is planning to create a new Union Territory comprising districts from Bihar and West Bengal near the Siliguri corridor.

#PIBFactCheck

❌ This claim is #Fake

✅There is no such proposal under consideration by the Government of India

⚠️ Always verify information from official sources before sharing

[Raktim Dutta @Battleflow_]

The Iranian fighter jet that was hit was just a painting.✈️✈️✈️

@grok

#IranIsraelWar

[Raktim Dutta @Battleflow_]

JUST IN🚨: 🇮🇱🇮🇷 Israel says Iran is weakening and losing control.

#IranIsraelWar

[Raktim Dutta @Battleflow_]

JUST IN🚨: 🇺🇸🇮🇷 US says B-2 bombers were used to strike underground missile bases in Iran.

#IranIsraelWar

[Raktim Dutta @Battleflow_]

Live footage from Tehran

[Raktim Dutta @Battleflow_]

In a meeting Putin suggested Russia could stop supplying gas to Europe now and shift to "more promising markets" like Asia

framing it as "thinking out loud," not a firm decision.

He said he'd task officials to discuss it with energy firms.

[Raktim Dutta @Battleflow_]

Something big is going to happen.

#Iran #IranIsraelWar #Trump #TelAviv

[Raktim Dutta @Battleflow_]

Breaking news

5 rockets were fired from Lebanon, no reports of casualties or impacts.

#Iran #IranIsraelWar