The Economic Times
Fast growth will save lives not the Food Security Bill
May 12th
Amartya Sen wants to estimate the number of deaths caused by the delay in passing the Food Security Bill. He thinks this may shame Opposition politicians into ceasing disruption of proceedings in the Lok Sabha. “To capture people’s attention, you have to have a number,” he says. Fine, but let’s hope Sen will also estimate More >
Govt, India Inc must take advantage of ultra-cheap Western and Japanese money
May 8th
India’s current account deficit was a record 6.7% of GDP in the last quarter of 2012. The deficit was plugged mainly by foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investment and NRI bank deposits. But a significant, rising contribution also came from foreign borrowing, by corporations and the government. Total foreign debt is now estimated at almost More >
India needs a statutory, independent Police Commission
May 5th
The Supreme Court says the government has “shaken the entire process” by asking the Central Bureau of Investigation to interfere in the coal scam. The court says “our first exercise will be to liberate the CBI from political interference”. Many of us will cheer the prospect. But the CBI chief has said, correctly, that the More >
Growth improves wages more than MNREGA
Apr 28th
Agricultural wages have been galloping upwards for six years, rising much faster than prices. So, the living standards of rural labourers, the poorest of the poor, have improved at a record pace (6.8% real growth per year since 2007-08 ). What’s behind this excellent trend? Many politicians and leftist analysts think it is the rural More >
Land acquisition Bill will work for industry, farmers if leases are preferred over acquisitions
Apr 24th
Many fear that the proposed land acquisition Bill will greatly harm economic progress through skyrocketing land prices, rewarding speculators while eroding India’s global competitiveness. Fortunately, the government has now accepted an opposition suggestion to make long land leases an alternative to outright acquisition. This is a huge improvement, and must become the preferred route. The More >
Manna from heaven, or a new recession?
Apr 21st
The price of gold, oil and many other commodities crashed last week. The stock markets zoomed and economists smiled, suddenly seeing positive consequences in three areas — inflation, the trade deficit and the fiscal deficit. These three factors had earlier dragged down the economy to its lowest growth rate for a decade, just 4.7 per More >
Gold: The party’s over
Apr 14th
The Indian price of gold has risen sixfold in the last decade, fuelling a record speculative import spree. Soaring gold imports have hit $42 billion in the first ten months of 2012-13 , pushing the current account deficit to near-disaster levels. The finance minister is wringing his hands in distress, while housewives say that buying More >
West should learn from India’s high patent standards
Apr 7th
The Supreme Court’s denial of a patent for Glivec, an anti-leukaemia drug made by Novartis of Switzerland, has been widely but wrongly hailed by NGOs and castigated by pharmaceutical companies as an attack on patents and a victory for cheap medicine. Actually, the Court fully upheld the principle of patents, but set a high bar More >
Can growth tame Maoists?
Apr 1st
Different states have different strategies to combat Maoism, which still produces violence in 80 of India’s 620 districts. Chhattisgarh has used quasi-military force and created an anti-Maoist militia, SalwaJudum, which is widely criticised for violating human rights. Andhra Pradesh has deployed a specialised anti-Maoist force, the Greyhounds, combined with development programmes in areas earlier abandoned More >
Slums are hubs of hope, progress and dignity
Mar 31st
The Census Commissioner has released a new report showing that 64 million people, representing one in six urban residents, live in slums with unsanitary conditions “unfit for human habilitation.” This has caused much moaning and groaning. But conditions are far worse in most villages. Romantic pastoralists may fantasise about happy green villages as opposed to More >
Bihar: Champion athlete does not need steroids
Mar 24th
At a massive Delhi rally, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar boasted of the state’s major achievements after he assumed power, and proclaimed a Bihar model of development for others to follow. If we view development as a sort of Olympics, Bihar would win several gold medals. It’s a champion athlete. Yet Kumar insists that Bihar More >
Lessons in good governance from former ‘Bimaru’ states Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh
Mar 18th
Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, once derisively called Bimaru states, have suddenly started growing much faster than the national average. They have followed widely divergent paths to success, which need elucidation. In 2011-12, national GDP growth was 6.21%. But Bihar (13.26%), Madhya Pradesh (11.81%), Jharkhand (8.92%) and even Uttar Pradesh (6.86%) fared better than More >
Fire from ice: A promising new energy source
Mar 17th
Massive imports of oil and natural gas have exacerbated India’s big trade deficit, which is a hurdle to the acceleration of economic growth. Light at the end of the tunnel comes from a technological breakthrough last week by JOGMEC (Japan Oil Gas and Metals National Corporation). It succeeded in extracting natural gas from sea-bed deposits More >
The status quo prince doth protest too much
Mar 10th
Dear Rahul Gandhi, You hit the headlines last week by saying you are disinclined to marry and have kids because then “I will become a status quoist and will become concerned about bequeathing my position to my children.” Second, you said you are not in the race to become prime minister. It would be gratifying More >
Can’t buy me an election with budget freebies
Mar 3rd
“Can’t buy me love,” sang the Beatles. “Can’t buy me an election” is the theme of this year’s budget. Finance ministers usually produce freebies, subsidies and waivers in their last budget before an election. Such attempts to buy votes have very little impact, but finance ministers persist in the hope that it may work this More >
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