Swaminomics

For those who believe that satellite TV is a form of western cultural imperialism, here is some news. For the first time in history, India’s Republic Day was seen live all over Asia on Star TV, and the fuming politicians and intellectuals of Pakistan could do nothing about it. The budget speech of Dr Man More >

Many promoters of companies, multinationals as well as Indian businessmen, are voting themselves new allotments of shares at highly preferential prices, sometimes one-fifth the market price. This benefits promoters at the cost of minority shareholders, and would be banned in many countries. Yet, company after company is doing this in India, all -the-name of corporate More >

Many readers heard of Cipla, the pharmaceutical company, when its share price recently hit Rs 35, 000, making it the priciest stock in India. But relatively few readers know that Cipla is owned by a Muslim, Mr. Yusuf Hamied. It is good that Cipla is viewed in secular rather than communal terms. But it is More >

I Call myself a feminist. This amuses many men who believe feminists must be female. For the same reason it also amuses many women, some of whom add that I am not highly visible in supporting womens’ organisations. I can only say that I regard feminism as being about basic rights and liberties of all More >

THIS year marks the birth centenary of Mao Zedong. China still pays lip service to the ideals of Mao. But the truth is that the special form of capitalism created by Chiang Kai Shek is now sweeping China. In the military field, Mao defeated Chiang decisively. But in the economic field, Chiang is posthumously beating More >

HUNDREDS of newspaper articles have been written on child labour in the match industry of Sivakasi and neighbouring areas. Some say it is the exploitation of the poor by capitalists. Others say it is the exploitation of children by their parents. Most accounts leave out a more important reason – the exploitation of females by More >

SINCE 1991, foreign investors automatically qualify for a 51 per cent equity stake in new investments in 34 priority industries. The government now proposes to increase the automaticity to 75 per cent, and increase the list of industries. It is doing so largely because the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, handling all non-automatic cases, finds itself More >

China has fared better in education than India because it gets more out of less. ECONOMIC reforms matter, but the human resources that take advantage of reforms matter too. China has become the latest miracle economy in Asia, growing at almost 10 per cent annually for more than a decade. But such economic growth could More >

DURING a recent visit to China, I was most impressed by Ms Yang Moqiou, principal of one of Shanghai’s top government schools. She is a member of the Communist Party, and proud of it. But don’t expect her to repeat the old socialist cliches about socialised education for all. She says that all basic education More >

COMPETITION is a marvellous thing. In virtually all fields, from sports to business, it forces people to strive, innovate and attain new heights of excellence. It is particularly important in business, since excellence here also means a better deal for consumers and a persistent rise in productivity which alone can banish poverty, and raise living More >

MEDHA PATKAR has not been able to stop the Sardar Sarovar dam from being built, or tribal villages from being submerged. But her dogged agitation has led to Japan and the World Bank withdrawing from financing the dam. Indeed, she has buttressed the campaign of the now-powerful global greens against all big dams. The chances More >

Are Indian brand names, technologies and designs going to be crushed by economic liberalisation? Will Indian companies become appendages of global giants? So far, we have striven to develop our own technologies and brand names. For decades we ‘sneeped at Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand for being mere assemblers of foreign components for multinationals. But after More >

SOME people ask me why, at a time when there are doubts whether the Prime Minister and h is economic policies will survive, I devoted last week’s Swaminomics to Karl Marx. One reason is that I have little new to say about Mr. Rao’s survival chances. The second is that the errors of Marx hold More >

TEN years ago, the finest brains in the world debated Karl Marx’s ideas on the occasion of his 19th death anniversary. It is now his 175th birth anniversary, but he ignored as a 19th century fossil. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and its empire in Eastern rope, it is commonplace to say it More >

JOURNALISTS often repeat the old joke that India has many sick industries but very few sick industrialists. There are cases where it is so profitable to run a sick industry that the owner positively radiates good health. As long as the unit. is profitable, the owner will typically complain about the unreasonable demands of his More >