ONE reason why Vijay Kelkar’s reports on tax reform have encountered so much opposition from so many lobbies is that Kelkar has approached taxation as an economist, not a politician. Since he is an economist, I have no quarrel with …
Since independence, Hindu militancy has looked the biggest danger to our secular fabric. I have spent a long career combating the hate messages of groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Yet I have a nasty feeling today that Islamic terror …
An American-led attack on Iraq seems inevitable. What impact will it have on India? Set aside moral considerations, which are muddled when the battle is between an imperial bully and a mass killer of his own people. Instead, examine where …
HOW dependent is prosperity on economic freedom? The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal compile annually an Economic Freedom Index. This is based on 50 different economic variables grouped into 10 categories — banking and finance, capital flows and foreign …
NEW DELHI: Amartya Sen complains (TOI, November 19) that I have not quoted him properly and distorted his views on education. Okay, let\’s quote him at length. Sen had written for the Pratichi Trust about a field study in West …
Disasters that do not occur can be as remarkable as those that do. During most of my 37 years in journalism, droughts were major disasters that meant spiraling prices, food imports, foreign exchange shortages, and consequent political crises. So it …
Have Indian interest rates finally become globally competitive? I have long held that real interest rates in India are too high for a sustainable investment boom. This is the predictable consequence of crowding out by huge fiscal deficits. The Bombay …
I have often wondered as a feminist — yes, men can be feminists too — what sparked female empowerment in the 19th and 20th centuries. Why, after millennia of being household drudges, do women now occupy the top ranks of …
I have often wondered as a feminist — yes, men can be feminists too — what sparked female empowerment in the 19th and 20th centuries. Why, after millennia of being household drudges, do women now occupy the top ranks of …
In our era, all idols seem to have clay feet. So too with Amartya Sen, celebrated Nobel Prize winner. Having admired his passionate writings to empower people, I am dismayed by his craven backpedalling in a report for the Pratichi …
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