In the recent Lok Sabha debate, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Modi runs a “suited-booted” government that favours rich cronies while neglecting the poor. Modi fired back at an investment summit in Lucknow. He declared he was not …
Does suited-booted sound more corrupt than khadi-Gandhi cap? Read More »
Alarmism over genetically modified foods is unscientific and false As an old fan of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), I deplore its campaign against genetically modified (GM) foods. The global anti-GM chorus flows from various prejudices, ranging from leftist …
Maharashtra was wracked last week by a violent agitation by Marathas for, among other things, a reserved quota in government jobs. Instead of facing up to mob violence — not only by caste-based groups and other vote banks but even …
High-tech policing can help nail and jail culprits behind mob violence Read More »
Why just 10 posts for lateral entry into the bureaucracy? Why not 500? This column has argued for decades for the lateral entry of outside experts into top administrative positions to usher in world-class expertise, independence and a different worldview. …
Many analysts worry that artificial intelligence (AI) — embedded in machines capable of self-learning through experience, like humans — threatens the jobs of the future. Robots with AI will increasingly be able to do tasks that humans alone can do …
AI can destroy jobs but sex bots may wreck much more Read More »
The big jump in minimum support prices (MSPs) for kharif crops announced by the Modi government is its biggest economic blunder. It gives farmers a fixed margin of 50% over their input costs and imputed labour cost, ignoring demand, supply …
MSP hike is a big blunder. Farmers are producers, not objects of charity Read More »
RBI should discipline states to end high cane prices that cause recurrent crises Farm distress in India currently flows mainly from excess production of one crop after another. This has depressed agricultural prices, yet left them too high to permit …
You can tell when an election campaign has begun by the proliferation of inane allegations and name-calling. The next general election is over 10 months away, but the excesses of campaign sloganeering are already evident in the BJP equating Indira …
ast week, Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists attacked the west gate of the Taj Mahal complex in Agra with hammers and iron rods, and removed the turnstile gate of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). They claimed the ASI had blocked …
Corporates will do a better job of protecting monuments than ASI or VHP Read More »
Congress politician Shashi Tharoor is going to be tried for abetment of the suicide of his wife Sunanda. I will not go into the details of his case, which are sub judice. Instead, let me make the overriding point that …
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