Articles

It is impossible to fight elections without lots of black money. Every politician needs access to black money, either directly or through his party. Maybe this leads to corruption, but it is politically necessary a democracy’. This sums up the […]

When the World Trade Organisation was formed as a successor to GATT, many Indian critics claimed it would be a neo-colonial instrument of domination. They said cross-conditionalities would be used by rich countries to bring cases against and impose trade

Many critics say economic liberalisation has led to an increase in kickbacks. Haven’t there been scandals relating to power and telecom after liberalisation? Dosen’t this shows that corruption has worsened? In fact, kickbacks have disappeared in deli censed areas. They

Industrial and export growth are booming, but looming infrastructure shortages mean the boom cannot be sustained. Power shortages are widespread, overloaded ports cannot cope with demand, the railways are unable to carry desperately-needed goods, roads are overcrowded and slow, airports

A liberal society is based on rules applicable to all, not on the whims and discretion of rulers. Payoffs in return for favours are ant-liberal. Liberalisation is not simply about delicensing an activity or two. It is about empowering citizens

Businessmen and NGOs sometimes ask me what they can do to improve the deplorable state of education in India. I believe that primary education must and can be done only by the state. But industrialists d NGOs (who get plentiful

At a time when the Planning Commission says 54 million people have risen above the poverty line, state governments seem to have fallen below it. Many can barely pay employees\’ salaries, some not even that. In consequence, urgently-needed investment in

Last week, I described the emerging war between generations in the West. The western welfare state taxes workers to finance pensions and health care for the aged. But the ratio of the aged to the workforce is rising relentlessly, and

A great new social struggle is emerging in the world. The old struggle was between workers and capitalists. The new struggle is between the workers and the aged. Forget about class wars, we are now in a war between generations.

One reason why India remains mired in poverty is that the political class gets worked up if anybody makes an excess profit of Rs 100 crore, but does not turn a hair if the public sector wastes Rs 100,000 crore.