Remember the book Every-body Loves a Drought, exposing how many vested interests benefit from drought relief? We need another book titled Everybody Loves Farm Suicides. Politicians love suicides. These helped the Congress to win the recent Andhra Pradesh election. They […]
Everybody loves farm suicides Read More »
For months, the media have been replete with reports of suicides of farmers in Andhra Pradesh, and now in Maharashtra too. The unstated assumption is that suicide hardly occurs unless caused by acute financial distress. Not so. Suicide is frighteningly
Does poverty or debt cause suicide? Read More »
Three years ago, I suggested in these columns that India should import electricity rather than gas from the Gulf. The logic of that has strengthened with the rise in oil prices, and technological improvements in undersea power cables. The petroleum
Import power from the Gulf Read More »
Armchair theorists in Delhi and Mumbai interpret the last general election as a revolt of rural masses bypassed by the information technology (IT) revolution. They voted for a new regime with a human face. This theory owes much to the
Democracy as mafia warfare Read More »
The big picture emerging from the budget is substantial continuity in economic policy, notwithstanding rhetoric about a new electoral mandate. The Left Front has not captured the government, as was feared by investors fleeing the stock market on May 17.
The big picture: Continuity in policy Read More »
Daridra Narayan in a three-piece suit. That sums up the \”reforms-with-a-human face\” budget presented by Finance Minister Chidambaram on Thursday. This is no dream budget, just an effort to flesh out the Common Minimum Programme. Its only dream is to
Daridra Narayan in a three-piece suit Read More »
Finance minister Chidambaram will be looking for every possible way of financing the big increases promised in education, health and employment in the Common Minimum Programme. The CMP rules out easy money from the sale of majority stakes in profitable
How FM can raise Rs 6,000 crore Read More »
Will finance minister Chidambaram produce another dream budget? Will he transform bears into bulls on the stock market? Such questions leave me smiling at two major illusions pervading our society. The smaller illusion is that the stock market is the
Watch out for the dirty bomb Read More »
The new conventional wisdom, after the general election, is that we must do more for agriculture. Politicians are determined to increase public investment in agriculture. Agricultural credit is to rise by a whopping 30% this year. Power tariffs have been
A return to food mountains? Read More »
Of all the surprises to come out of general election, the most delightful one is that Narendra Modi might be ousted as chief minister of Gujarat. Two years ago, when he won the Gujarat state elections by a landslide, Modi
Did Modi really sink the BJP? Read More »
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