26 Articles by
agarwalvj
Born in village Kotah (Saharanpur), Vijendra Agarwal, left India in 1973 after Ph.D. (Physics) from IIT Roorkee but always remained connected with his roots. A researcher in Italy, Japan, and France, he came to the US in 1978. He served as faculty and academic administrator (Assistant Vice President, Associate Vice Chancellor, and Dean of the College of Science and Engineering) in several universities, and an Executive Fellow in the White House S&T Policy during Clinton administration. Following his voluntary retirement in 2014, he and his wife co-founded a US-based NGO, Vidya Gyan, to serve rural India toward education, health, and empowerment of girls and overall development. An Indian at heart, his passion for writing has no boundaries. This includes policy, politics and people, and social/cultural activities promoting community engagement. Currently, he is the Brand Ambassador for Times of India and frequently blogs on Linkedin on various topics.
Opinions
Celebrating visibility of children following yearlong invisibility from schools
As the schools return to life, we must take precautions and fight the invisible corona not to ever return and celebrate our children’s uninterrupted learning as visibly as we can.
Opinions
Greed for greater notoriety by foreign celebrities from the farmer’s protests
Many protestors are not the farmers who plow the fields. They are the commission agents and traders/hoarders of agriculture products.
Opinions
Despicable and deplorable desecration of the Red Fort: Bharat’s damaged democracy
What was shocking and sad that January 26, the day when independent India’s constitution was unveiled, became the battleground of unruly and despicable behavior in the name of “Annadata,” the farmers who toil the land with their sweat and grow food to feed the millions.
Opinions
The historic and hopeful January 20, 2021
Let January 20 serve as a stark reminder for the world at large that the democracy may have been halted temporarily but it has returned with greater hope and not fear.
Opinions
“Power over People”: A tale of two democratically elected leaders
We talk about some parallels between two world leaders (Trump and Mrs. Gandhi) from the oldest and the largest democracies who chose power over people and had a very unfortunate and sad ending.
Opinions
Doomsday and damaged democracy
The largest democracy, India, witnessed doomsday on June 25, 1975, when the democracy was crushed by India’s PM Indira Gandhi by declaring emergency, & 45 years later, the doomsday emerged for the oldest, but now badly bruised and damaged, democracy- the USA.
Reports
Re imagining 2021 primary education in rural India based on our experiences
The modest efforts of Vidya Gyan, a US based NGO, for about 5 years have been aimed at improving infrastructure and learning environment in rural government schools.
Reports
2020: An unprecedented, unpredictable, and uncertain year
Who could have imagined that the “unique 2020” would ironically turn into the most "unprecedented, unpredictable, and uncertain 2020" of historic proportions, perhaps not even worth remembering and writing about?
Opinions
No calm after the storm in the battleground in America: Should India be concerned?
India has nothing to be concerned about the inevitable change taking shape in Washington. India is a rising power politically, economically, militarily, intellectually, and morally and thus deserves a respectful place on the global platform.
Opinions
2020 Presidential Election: A doomsday for democracy in America
Can the country live with unprecedented damage to democracy and divisiveness among people based on their gender, color, origin, political ideologies, etc?
