Articles

Dear Mr Chidambaram, Your budget speech promised to create a knowledge centre in every village. I applaud your desire to take information technology to villages. Yet I hear discouraging reports of computers lying unpacked and unused in schools. Why? First, […]

Talking is always better than shooting. So I welcome the amicable Musharraf-Manmohan summit, and the Srinagar-Muzzafarabad bus service. Yet I believe that both are irrelevant to peace in Kashmir. From 1984 to 1992, terrorism was worse in Punjab than currently

Medical operations are costly, and heart operations cost lakhs. Poor people die or lose limbs because they cannot afford surgery. Some get into the clutches of moneylenders to pay for operations. Medical debt drives millions into poverty. Amazingly, a government

In 1992, I wrote a book titled \”Towards Globalisation.\” I did not realize at the time that this was going to be the history of my family. Last week we celebrated the wedding of my daughter, Pallavi. A brilliant student,

Dear Mr Chidambaram, As a feminist myself, I am happy that you are now interested in gender budgeting.  But many projects and policies (highway or liberal imports) benefit women as much as men. Additional allocations to feed pregnant mothers or

Almost as soon as the Kyoto Protocol on global warming came into effect on February 15, Kashmir suffered the highest snowfall in three decades with over 150 killed, and Mumbai recorded the lowest temperature in 40 years. Had temperatures been

Historically, global recession has followed when the price of oil crosses $ 30/barrel. But in 2004 the price crossed $ 50, and is still $ 48 today. Yet instead of suffering a recession the world economy skyrocketed by 5.3 %

Energy has converted India\’s traditional foes into energy allies. India\’s GNP will grow at maybe 7 per cent annually in the next 20 years, in which case energy needs may quadruple. Energy security is now an urgent issue. This explains

Will foreign institutional investors (FIIs) finance Indian government programmes on education, health and employment? Not a chance, you might think. Yet something of the sort is in the works. Chidambaram faces the classic dilemma (or trilemma) of finance ministers. He

The world\’s biggest capitalist get-together, the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, has started this week. Change is in the air. This is what the inaugural speech in 2035 will sound like. Ladies, gentlemen and transvestites