Swarajya Exclusive — Conversation With The IAS Officer Leading Gujarat's Semiconductor Mission

Dear Reader,

In Swarajya's exclusive series Navratri Notes, Aravindan Neelakandan is writing about non-Hindu Goddesses from outside India for the nine days of Navratri.

Today he writes on 'Maat, the Goddess of Cosmic Order, Breath of Life, and Justice'.

• The ancient Egyptians' concept of Maat as a Divine Feminine principle was a remarkable achievement. She is the basis of all existence — physical, biological, psychological, social, political, and ecological.

• The forbidden champaka flower is compared to the nose of the goddess, who also wears it on her hair which demonstrates how the goddess shows motherly compassion without reason or condition.

🎵 Music Recommendation: Karuna is an emotion that lends itself naturally to expression through the raga Bhairavi. Here, Pt Sanjeev Abhyankar presents a Devi-stuti, Niranjani Narayani, in the same raga.

The most evocative and moving part of the piece comes approximately between 9:45 and 10:15, when Pt Abhankar sings of the Devi as 'karunamayi', The One Who is Most Compassionate. He stays on the word, revealing its meaning in a way only music, not language, can.

- Arush Tandon

Dear Reader,

Gujarat's formidable industrial infrastructure is propelling it as India's semiconductor hub or rather the 'Semicon Valley Of India'.

In less than a year, the state has seen three semiconductor units break ground.

At the helm of this transformation is Mona Khandhar (Indian Administrative Service), Principal Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology in the Gujarat government.

In an exclusive conversation with Swarajya, Khandhar shared her insights on a wide spectrum of topics — from the progress of ongoing semiconductor projects to the strategic significance of Dholera as a chip manufacturing hub and the evolving semiconductor skills ecosystem in Gujarat.

Here are the excerpts from the conversation.

- Anmol N Jain