Across Asia, including China, foreign retailers have proved a blessing, providing consumers with cheaper wares, and upgrading the technology of local producers to make them globally competitive. Only in India do opposition parties want to protect the aam bania against …
With less than two months to go for the US presidential election, most opinion polls suggest that Barack Obama is a clear favourite to beat Republican challenger Mitt Romney. A Gallup poll last Thursday gave Obama 50% of the popular …
In Washington DC, a fellow bus traveller asked about my job. I said I was an economist. \”Oh\” he said in disgust \”you economists don\’t know nothing.\” This was a cruel, yet accurate comment. The world is staggering under multiple …
There was much cheering last week when our cricket Test team demolished New Zealand . Yet the truly great Test and victory was in the Gujarat High Court, which imposed stiff sentences on perpetrators of the Naroda Patiya massacre of …
Opposition parties want Manmohan Singh’s head for supposed corruption in 57 coal blocks that were allocated, not auctioned. The government is under pressure to cancel the allocations. That would be politically, legally and economically wrong. Politically, it will look like …
Indian politics today seems driven less by politicians and more by the Supreme Court and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). What does this imply for Indian democracy? The answer is that we are seeing a revolt by India\’s institutions against …
The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on coal block allocations highlights the mess in the coal sector, but has led to very faulty interpretations of what exactly has gone wrong. The report exposes the pitfalls of ministerial discretion …
End discretionary allocations in coal and everything else Read More »
Today we celebrate the 65th anniversary of India\’s independence. Some mourn it as the 65th anniversary of India\’s partition, which killed a million people and forced 10 million to flee across borders for safety. Utopians wish Partition had never …
Independence Day: Why Partition was a good thing for India Read More »
When India\’s GDP growth declined to 6.5% last year, some shrugged it off as an aberration. But drought and industrial stagnation have led financial analysts like CLSA to slash their growth estimate for 2012-13 to 5.5%. Citibank fears it could …
Drought relief, poll freebies will widen fiscal deficit Read More »
Dear Anna Hazare, Frustrated by your failure to draw large crowds or sway Parliament, you have decided to convert your India Against Corruption movement into a political party. This is madness. Please abandon the idea. A mass movement can flourish …
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