During the Uruguay Round talks on trade in the early 1990s, India fought tooth and nail against two new trade rules proposed for the World Trade Organisation. One was to make intellectual property rights (patents, copyright, trade marks) an integral […]
Patents as a retaliatory weapon Read More »
I cheer the upsurge of microfinance in the last decade. Mohammed Yunus of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh first demonstrated the value or organizing poor women into self-help groups (SHGs), with the group guaranteeing repayment by any member. These microfinance groups
Microfinance: directed lending that works Read More »
Indian visitors to China are overwhelmed by skyscrapers, flyovers and expressways. China is leaving India far behind. Yet, in one unexpected respect, India is far ahead. Both countries have a proud architectural heritage. India\’s pride is the Taj Mahal, a
Democracy saves Taj Read More »
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 »
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