As a young journalist I learned not to take Five Year Plans seriously. Fancy plan targets were routinely missed but shrugged off since they carried no penalties. Are climate targets being discussed at the COP26 climate summit any different? If five-year targets cannot be taken seriously, why believe targets 30-50 years away? I think climate […]
Right climate for Indian investment in green tech Read More »
A decade ago, former World Bank economist Lant Pritchett was lauded for his thesis that while India was definitely not a failing state — it had achieved 7% “miracle” GDP growth — it was a “flailing state.” That is, while its performance was world class by some measures of governance, it was terrible in other
India not a flailing state but can we return to 7% GDP? Read More »
India’s central and state governments have long misused a variety of laws and rules to cow opponents and silence critics. Trolling, abuse and threats of rape or killing on social media are other standard tactics. The BJP may be the current practitioner of such tactics, but all others are guilty of it. These traditional tools
We need to end harassment through FIRs Read More »
This is the time of year when optimistic budget projections usually prove false, tax revenues fall short of expectations, austerity is decreed for government departments, government dues and capital spending are postponed for want of funds, and budgetary fudging of all sorts begins to try and keep the fiscal deficit close to the budget target.
As Covid wanes, economy back on recovery path Read More »
The rise of communal tension in recent years owes much to the BJP’s stress on two themes. One is high Muslim fertility that supposedly threatens the majority status of Hindus. The second is the threat to India from Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, who have been called “termites” by Home Minister Amit Shah. Both themes have
Why fears over rising Muslim population share, immigration unfounded Read More »
Globalisation and the spread of giant digital companies have fuelled fears of excessive concentration of wealth and power in a few giants like Google and Facebook. In past columns, I have highlighted how the same process now produces fast growing start-ups called unicorns, which have an estimated worth of over a billion dollars even before
Why India needs more startup crorepatis Read More »
India has been moving towards organic farming. Narendra Modi has showered praise on “zero budget farming,” with no purchased chemical inputs. Sikkim claims to be the only state with 100% organic farming. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and other non-BJP states are also enthusiastically encouraging organic farming. They should pause and learn from Sri Lanka’s agricultural crisis.
Lankan food crisis shows perils of organic farming Read More »
Not only must re-opening schools be a top priority, we need a well thought out strategy to help students make up for 500 days of almost no learning. Covid has been both a health and educational disaster. All schools were closed without debate when Covid struck. Cautious re-opening has begun at higher school levels but
CMs should stop dragging their feet on school opening Read More »
The government’s failure to sell any of the 109 railway passenger routes it auctioned in August is a shameful fiasco. Many bidders showed interest in rights to run passenger services for 35 years, and the government hoped to garner Rs 30,000 crore from the auction. But ultimately the bidders backed out, citing rules favouring the
Grand sale but, as rly auction shows, where are the buyers? Read More »
The rapid collapse of Afghanistan to the Taliban has sparked much finger pointing. Yet the Taliban have been advancing for over a decade with the US retreating. Only the speed of the final collapse is surprising. The Taliban, though backed by Pakistan, are indubitably a domestic Afghan creation. Yet they always saw themselves as part
Tame Taliban? Let’s not kid ourselves. Their win is just the tip of the jihad iceberg Read More »
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