Articles

India’s decision to vote against Iran in the UN has brought protests from left parties and media. They say India is abandoning its independent foreign policy. I am amazed by the mendacity and hypocrisy of such talk. It implies that

Several reasons, some bogus and some real, have been advanced for the rise in prices of oil and gas since 2003. These include the Iraq war, constrained OPEC production, falling non-OPEC production, speculation by hedge funds, and China’s fast-rising consumption.

Oil prices have gone through the roof this year. Yet inflation remains modest, and in recent weeks has decelerated. Year-on-year inflation was just 3.08% in the latest week for which data are available (ending August 20). This contrasts with 6.5%

The shahtoosh shawl is the most prized of all, beloved of Mughal emperors. It is very warm, yet to soft and fine that it passes through a ring. But buying a shahtoosh shawl today is illegal, and the industry is

Bihar is among the poorest, most misgoverned states. More Plan funds or public sector projects are not remedies. The state was India’s industrial heartland in the 1950s, boasting the giant Tata complex at Jamshedpur and Dalmia-Jain complex at Rohtas. Bihar

The price of oil has hit a record $ 68/barrel. But even worse news for India is that the US price of natural gas skyrocketed to $ 10/mmbtu last week, double the price a year ago. This jeopardises the revival

I am not keen to see the blockbuster film “Mangal Pandey”. I find jingo-patriotic themes tiresome and hypocritical. Rudrangshu Mukherjee in a recent book has demolished the notion that Mangal Pandey was a patriot leading the Indian struggle for independence.

India has enough oil trapped in shale and coal deposits in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to produce 140 million tones per year for 100 years, say former geologists of Oil India Ltd including ex-Chairman and Managing Director Chudamani Ratnam. This

The BJP and Left Front have accused Manmohan Singh of making India a junior partner of the US. Is that so bad? I suspect, they mean India has become an American puppet, but that is absurd. For many decades, India