Shailesh K. PATHAK

2019: when my private sector tenure exceeded my @IASassociation years in Govt. 2 December vignettes.. From 2003, welcoming PM #ABV in Bastar district, as DM to conduct elections; 1st time IAF Choppers were used From 2018, at @ficci_india AGM’s CEO panel on Building a New India

Theodore Roosevelt quote “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

How are voter lists updated in the US? Happy to see Hindi among 7 languages on the Voter Registration Card, an annual exercise by the Chicago Board of Elections. These cards are mailed to all voters. See photo, other languages include Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Korean & Tagalog. (No imposition of any language)… India’s voter lists are prepared very differently, of course. Amidst discussions about Bihar’s Special Intensive Review of electoral rolls 2025, appreciation for our tech-enabled @ECISVEEP teams that made the draft voter list possible within a month. A population higher than UK or France, 90712 polling booths in 243 Assembly Constituencies, updation during the Bihar monsoons, see chart. Commendable work, with leadership provided by Mr. Gyanesh Kumar, Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. Here’s to similar SIRs across all states. 10 days since our Delhi to Chicago ‘nonstop’ @airindia flight had a technical halt at Vienna airport- an unintended beneficiary due to our painful neighbour. Very smooth US immigration experience at ORD, just my photo, no stamping of passport needed.

From Berlin to Bihar…. For ‘India that is Bharat’ to do better, Bihar and Poorvanchal would need to grow much faster. Bihar’s rapid development depends upon capacity-building of Bihar Government’s 13 lakh employees to national and global levels. Was happy to contribute to ‘Bihar Learning Week’ on 15 July 2025 with my #Infrastructure session, live on @iGOTKarmayogi under @DoPTGoI working with @BipardGaya & @gadbihar whose post is quoted. For those from Bihar & Jharkhand, whether in India or outside, please view whenever you have the time. Talked on practice, not theory. Have used conversational Hindi (Bihari accent) with a bit of Bhojpuri, Urdu, Maithili, and Bangla. See at this link: youtube.com/live/iu6s2GPlt… Showed night-lights of Bihar 2012-21, per capita income of 38 districts in Bihar, piped water supply in rural households up from 2% to 96% in 2019-2025. Other data points showing transformation could include toilets coverage, institutional deliveries & Maternal Mortality rates, all-weather roads, energy and power availability, GST collections and much more. Key messages: 4 kinds of infra Security infra (law & order, policing & criminal justice ecosystem) - most important Physical infra (Sadak, Bijli, Paani, others) Social infra (Health, Education, Nutrition, others) Digital infra (e-governance, mobile-based service delivery etc) An idea of Bihar’s road distances and driving time taken (much improved over the last 20 years): Buxar to Bhagalpur      380 km, 8 hours Bettiah to Banka          385 km, 10 hours Kishanganj to Aurangabad 500 km, 11 hours Compare this with Expressway drive times: Noida to Lucknow  512 km, 7 hours Lucknow to Buxar  380 km, 5 hrs 20 mins Transport time and cost would both come down over the next decade, including faster passenger trains, after the Eastern DFC. Water infra in Bihar came in for special discussion. In so many ways, water management is Bihar’s biggest challenge and opportunity. Urban Infrastructure deserves much much more attention. As PM @narendramodi said in 2016, cities have the ability to digest poverty. Most livelihood creation within Bihar happens in the top 10 cities - Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Purnia, Darbhanga, Bihar Sharif, Ara, Munger, and Chapra. Capacity building for Bihar’s 12 Municipal Corporations, 88 Nagar Parishads and 154 Nagar Panchayats is much-needed for Ease-of-Living of Biharis. The best anti-poverty program for Bihar is to steadfastly urbanise- it is currently the least urbanised among all states. Agri-Infrastructure is going to be helped by the new PM Dhan-Dhanya Krishi Yojana PMDDKY. Digital Infrastructure has seen rapid improvements over the last few years. UPI, DBT, PM Kisan, BiharBhumi and many other e-governance initiatives are most welcome. Broadband and mobile data speeds are high. Many savvy young persons use mobile phones to access govt services. Infrastructure has 4 broad stages: Design, Financing, Construction and Operation. Much more is needed in the 1st stage. Good design is imperative, even if it takes time. Of course, operation & maintenance of infra assets needs intensive monitoring and attention, as we have seen with bridges across the world. Focusing on the future is always best, and most learnings from pre-2010 Bihar or indeed pre-2010 India are pretty much irrelevant for the next decade. Skilling and education in specific employable sectors would be great. Am working with some entities on skilling Bihar girls and boys to cater to global demand for skilled workers. As a beginning, we have set up a large K-10 school near the Bihar-UP border: 655 students in less than 4 years. Photo below. Was happy to give-back to Bihar, Have been out since 1981 after completing schooling in Patna, Gaya & Dehri-on-Sone; also stayed in Araria, Jamui, Muzaffarpur & Ranchi.

For all those interested in quick justice in India, a must–read by the outstanding @sumitamisra In the next few years, criminal justice delivery ecosystem would improve in states that implement the 3 new laws well. Hope to see commercial and civil justice delivery ecosystems improve in our lifetime.

On my 3 day Berlin visit, much learning. #German companies, especially in Automotives and Semiconductors, diversifying their supply chains following the ABC approach: Anywhere But China. Current facilities in China would continue, but new capacities largely for local consumption. #Most new investments in supply chains and manufacturing ecosystems would come up elsewhere, with India being high on the list. Appreciation of India’s improving supply chain & logistics, the tech ecosystem and the local market. #Indian diplomacy and business underscored trust factor for German companies doing business in India. Other highlights: A disquieting sight when landing in Munich was of an airplane tail-fin jutting out from a building, photo below. While it looked like the tragic AI 171 Boeing’s tail-fin stuck on a wall in Ahmedabad, the specially designed doors for the enormous Airbus A380 enable the tail to be out of the hangar. Germany is attracting Indian professionals. Over the last decade, Indians working in Germany have gone up 6x. Indian Ambassador in Germany #AjitGupte told me that he sees Indian professionals in most German companies, especially Tech/IT. Many more needed in health care and other sectors. And as German Ambassador in India #PhilippAckermann said, there is no upper limit or cap. Germany follows good design principles. Berlin is the largest city in Germany with ~ 4 million population. Think Lucknow or Kochi. I could use rail+metro from Berlin airport to Potsdamer Platz and around the city. Very good integration of intracity rail, metro and bus systems. At the airport terminal, the elevator goes directly to the rail platform or the metro platform. Such integration should be mandatory in Indian airports and railway stations, prone to unnecessarily long connecting corridors. In 2019, had suggested Berlin’s HauptBahnHof as a model for Indian railway stations. x.com/shypk/status/1… At metro stations, only one escalator for coming up, an incline for the down slope. Saves operating expenses. Wide pedestrian pathways and bicycle paths ensure road safety. Indeed, complimented a senior German professional commuting by her bicycle. Berlin just moved closer to restricting private cars within the main city. Sorely needed in India, starting from our hill stations. See more at   usa.streetsblog.org/2025/06/26/ber… For urban activists, volksentscheid-berlin-autofrei.de/wie.php?lang=en Happy to see Madhya Pradesh’s Sanchi Stupa’s gate featured prominently near the Humboldt Forum Museum. Paid homage to Western Classical Music greats at the Beethoven-Haydn-Mozart Monument in Tiergarten, a 520 acre wooded park. Evocatively, the street next to the Japanese embassy is named Hiroshimastrasse. In 2015, had done Berlin tourism with school buddies. A decade later, it’s been a good journey. Here’s to the next decade!

How is India’s growth and ecosystem being viewed by various stakeholders? Some interactions over the last month with diverse groups of people in business, policy and global finance below. In Bangalore, spent an evening with a European company’s Global Executive Board. Fun fact: market cap of their Indian subsidiary is higher than market cap of parent company’s in Europe. Operations in 50 countries; manufacturing in 20+ countries. Very bullish on India’s growth. Discussions on Finance & Economics, industrial sectors, also on India’s culture, history, regional differences and much more. Very intelligent and curious Chairperson, learnt from all their global perspectives. Separate bonus was a visit to ISCKON Bangalore to meet friends old and new, to contribute to a very large project, likely to become one of the top landmarks of India by 2030. In Mumbai, interacted with young finance professionals at an Investors’ Conference. My sessions were on Infrastructure & Cities. Semiconductors and Defence attracted buzz and interest. Having started my career in capital markets & investment banking in Bombay, always a pleasure to return to my favourite city. Look forward to BKC’s metro and HSR connectivity. In Delhi, good to talk to a group of bright mid-career corporate professionals on effective interaction with governments at various levels. Co-hosted by @ispp_edu and @PAFIIndia Photo below. Participants shared examples of very good interactions in governments, and some not-so-good interactions. Examples of very positive interactions with Ministers & MLAs, Tehsildar, CDO, District Collector, other city, district, state and national officers Directors, Joint Secretaries and so on. Participants learnt from a quiz that media shapes our perceptions, and it is essential to keep a balance by listening to diverse media views. Today, a pleasure to meet good friend for over 35+ years @SarojJha001 and Sumila Gulyani. They are doing excellent work in the water sector, globally as well as in India. Water security for large urban agglomerations in our country is an imperative, as is capacity building for better operations and urban planning. Did you know that over the last 3 decades, over half the growth in irrigated agricultural area across the world has come from India and our northern neighbour? And I didn’t know that hydropower projects on one river in a Central African nation would generate power which is 10x their GDP. But governance institutions need to upscale before project execution. Key takeaway: Non-indian investors have a more positive view of India’s future, since they can see beyond ‘breaking news’ and appreciate the ‘secular growth trends’

Aadhaar is a number linked to your fingerprints and iris. Nothing more. Aadhaar verification (with OTP) proves your identity. Easy to understand. Aadhaar is NOT a paper card, which can be photoshopped - passports, voter ID EPICs, high-school mark sheets, birth certificates can also be photoshopped, especially with new AI. Anyone staying for over 6 months in India, of whichever nationality, can get an Aadhaar number. Including foreign citizens. Try MyAadhaar on the UIDAI website, very useful. The use-cases of Aadhaar identity verification have transformed life for India’s poor and un-connected. Who never had identity papers. The positive impact of Aadhaar on Indian public policy is a great success story. For Proof of Identity and Proof of Address: Aadhaar is perfect for the first. NOT for the second. There are other proofs of address that are accepted, especially in passport offices. And Digilocker is not necesary for OTP based Aadhaar verification. Have been observing Aadhaar critics since 2010 who will seldom appreciate the positives. Most of their cribs are related to photoshopped fake Aadhaars, and KYC requirements for Aadhaar cards. Any entity asking for Aadhaar card photocopies for any KYC is silly - when they could easily do OTP based verification in seconds. Sadly, silly entities are not uncommon. Indeed, @UIDAI would do well to specifically discourage use of the words ‘Aadhaar card’ And also redress quickly glitches that some Indians face in Aadhaar updation. @neelkanthmishra @ceo_uidai @andymukherjee70 @suchetadalal

In Nov 2013, had written about the prevailing ‘decision-making strike’ and ‘investment strike’ - listing out six factors holding back decisions: 5Cs and 1 M. See link below. Do read and see how much is relevant even today? Much has improved by 2025 to reduce policy paralysis. No change in the judicial dispute resolution ecosystem, sadly. Had recommended 3 short-term and 2 long-term measures to overcome these ‘strikes’ 1. Change in incentive structures for officials 2. Change in investigative processes 3. Fast-track courts for PEPs (‘politically exposed persons’) 4. Relook at PILs, RTI, media etc 5. Radical change in recruitment / selection of senior leaders and officials Quite some progress on the first 4 steps, especially no. 3 that has led to no. 1. As India gears up to become the 3rd largest economy, no. 5 is going to become inevitable governancenow.com/news/regular-s…

Very different perspective, @paranjoygt & Gunjan Sinha. Expressways are meant for vehicles at high speed. For such vehicles, trees would be fatal risks in collisions. Nowhere in the world do access-controlled expressways have trees adjoining carriageway - there is always a calming verge. For road safety, please do see MBCBs. By all means, let us plant trees around rest areas and where road safety is not compromised. Urban roads, with low vehicle speeds and non-motorised transport or people walking on footpaths, should definitely maximise trees and green cover. Sher Shah Suri upgraded an earlier existing highway, God bless him. Apart from horses, Grand Trunk Road‘s fastest moving vehicles were cattle-drawn carts, many walking on foot. Caravans used to cover 30 km in one day, hence the CaravanSerais (inns) at this regular interval. Trees were invaluable for this slow-moving traffic. Things have changed in 500 years. Also, the Purvanchal Expressway has nothing to do with Gadkari ji. Built by Govt of Uttar Pradesh, the expressway leader across India. But you probably knew that, right?

Proud to be @USIofIndia Distinguished Fellow. Will help create robust ecosystem for indigenisation & self-reliance in emerging tech for Defence & Security. Also, did you know? Of the 14 peaks above 8000m, 6 are in India. See linkedin post at linkedin.com/posts/spathak_…

1990 to 2025, horseriding is still great fun In LBSNAA Mussoorie. Good to see many illustrious names in the honour board for best Officer Trainee. Full post at linkedin.com/posts/spathak_…

Taught a full course on Infrastructure to bright Scholars at @ispp_edu Now for the 10 group assignments on projects chosen by them More at linkedin.com/posts/spathak_…

We firmly stand with Kerala Chief Secretary Ms Sarada Muraleedharan, #IAS. A person’s true worth is known by her actions and achievements, not by the colour of skin. (1/2) indiatoday.in/india/kerala/s…

An Indian perspective of US President Trump’s address to ‘Joint Session of Congress’ on 4 March 2025 linkedin.com/posts/spathak_…

Time for Tax-eaters to become Tax-payers… or issue regular reports on how their tax money is spent, esp by state govts In July 1964, US President LBJ talked about ‘Turning Tax-eaters into Tax-payers’ More at millercenter.org/sites/default/… Listen at millercenter.org/listening-to-t…

Impressive use of technology for better governance. Could be so easily done in India, since PFMS (Public Finance Management System)pfms.nic.in has all information in GoI as well as all state governments… now for the algorithms @FinMinIndia @nsitharaman

In @livemint today, my take on Infrastructure in Union Budget 2025 - beyond Finance Minister @nsitharaman income tax measures, many incentives for state governments in better urban quality of life, better tourism, deregulation to attract investments livemint.com/budget/budget-…