Nuclear safety has become a top priority after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Safety at all Indian plants is being reviewed, and coastal reactors may be built on higher ground for tsunami protection. Critics have objected to unproven French […]
Fast breeder reactors are the least safe Read More »
WikiLeaks continues to amuse rather than enlighten us. The latest leaks took us back to the cash-for-votes scandal of 2008, when the Congress and allies desperately sought the support of small parties to survive a confidence vote after the Indo-US
Forget WikiLeaks, codify House privileges Read More »
How do we measure economic freedom, and how relevant is it for economic growth? Some answers come from Economic Freedom of the States of India 2011, a report just brought out by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Cato Institute and Indicus
Freedom means faster growth Read More »
The finance minister’s Budget speech proposed a radical change in subsidies: instead of trying (and failing) to provide subsidized goods to the needy, the government would provide cash transfers. This would cut leakages in subsidies, which former Prime Minister Rajiv
Cash transfers are a good idea but hasten slowly Read More »
In response, the Sensex initially jumped nearly 600 points, but handed back much of the gains after investors realised some of the Budget’s projections were based on statistical revisions and future optimism rather than fiscal stringency. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s
Budget 2011: A tie between deficit and growth Read More »
Indians are rightly excited by the jasmine revolution that has overthrown autocracies in Tunisia and Egypt, and may oust Muammar Gaddafi in Libya too. They hope that the jasmine revolution will spread to the rest of the Middle East, bringing
Gulf: Rising Shias, uneasy Sunnis Read More »
One reason for the Taliban’s resilience in Afghanistan is the big money they make from the opium trade. Attempts to cut off external financing for the Taliban have failed since it generates so much money within the country. The US
Dump opium in Afghanistan, bankrupt Taliban Read More »
Excitement over the revolution in Egypt is tempered with worries that old autocrats will be replaced by new ones. The Middle East has no tradition of democratic institutions. Why so? There are many reasons, but we will focus on the
Middle East\’s uncertain democracy Read More »
Excitement over the revolution in Egypt is tempered with worries that old autocrats will be replaced by new ones. The Middle East has no tradition of democratic institutions. Why so? There are many reasons, but we will focus on the
Middle East\’s uncertain democracy Read More »
I am delighted that public outrage is mounting over corruption. To get better insights into the nature of corruption today, I discussed the issue over lunch with three businessmen who had headed small and mid-cap companies. Their immediate reaction was
Big graft yes, but big growth too Read More »
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