Narendra Modi said in London that “India will not tolerate intolerance”. Secular critics jeered, since the BJP had raised the communal temperature during the Bihar election. Over 50 writers have returned national awards in protest against intolerance. They cite the […]
India is more sensitive now, not more intolerant Read More »
Narendra Modi wants to create millions of jobs. India’s biggest job creator is construction, creating over 20 million jobs in the last nine years. Jobs in other sectors are growing slowly, or falling. Yet construction now faces a problem that
The tragicomedy of being forced to import sand Read More »
Forget caste arithmetic. Economic development gave Nitish Kumar his Bihar election victories in 2005 and 2010. He looks set to win a third victory based on development, the trump card this time being rural electricity. When Bihar was partitioned in
For Nitish, rural electrification can be a winner Read More »
Narendra Modi’s Digital India is a scheme that includes connecting all Indian villages with broadband. He says this will empower rural Indians, without spelling out all the details. He should learn from China’s Taobao villages, which have been transformed by
China’s Taobao villages show e-commerce can transform rural India Read More »
Angus Deaton, who has just won the Nobel Prize for Economics, is famous for three major findings. First, humanity has enjoyed a Great Escape from poverty because of rapid economic growth, especially in China and India. Second, humanity has also
Longer life is the greatest form of poverty reduction Read More »
Predicting elections is a mug’s game. Nonetheless, I predict that the BJP will lose in Bihar. Killing beef-eaters does not win elections. Journalists have long accused the BJP of trying to win Bihar by stoking communal passions with stunts like
The Dadri effect: Killing beef-eaters will not win elections Read More »
As a beef-eating Hindu, I am utterly outraged at the killing of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri by a Hindu mob claiming the man had beef in his house. Even worse is the attempt of BJP politicians to sanitize the lynching.
A beef-eating Hindu demands his rights Read More »
Last week, I wrote of the huge potential for creating fresh land by reclaiming it from the sea, instead of dispossessing farmers to build future industries and airports. India has a very long coastline, with large mud flats (especially in
Reclaim land for industry from rivers, reservoirs Read More »
The land acquisition issue has been brushed under the carpet for the time being. Yet officials in the department of industrial promotion and policy say that the land banks available with many state governments are getting exhausted. A JP Morgan
Create land offshore instead of acquiring it Read More »
World Bank’s chief economist Kaushik Basu wants the US Fed to postpone raising US interest rates, fearing “panic and turmoil” in emerging markets like India. Alas, this mistakes dither and indecision for good policy. For years, the Fed has kept
Don’t be afraid of US raising interest rates Read More »
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