The Economic Times

Our poverty line was created way back in the early 1970s on the assumption that human beings needed a minimum of 2,400 calories per day in rural areas and 2,100 calories per day in more sedentary urban areas, giving an […]

Not long ago, we got endless lectures from foreign investors and fund managers on how corrupt and shady Indian market practices were, and how these had to be transformed if India was to attract any money from abroad. There is

The United States is desperately trying to persuade all countries (including poor ones like Vietnam) to contribute something for the reconstruction of Iraq. This implies that much of Iraq’s old debt of $134 billion will be written off. Some analysts

Should India stop accumulating reserves so rapidly and let the rupee appreciate against the dollar? Absolutely, said IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff when he visited India recently. He gave similar advice to all emerging Asian economies at the annual meeting

There has been much loose talk this year about a unipolar world in which the hegemonic USA dominates the globe as none has done since the Roman Empire. That has now been exposed as pure hype by US setbacks at

This year marks not only the 56th anniversary of Independence but also the 60th anniversary of the Bengal Famine, in which 2.1 million people died. In 1943 the Raj ignored the drought in Bengal, claiming preoccupation with the war effort

For years, many people have urged the pruning of government staff. The last Pay Commission spoke of pruning the civil service by 30%. So many will be surprised to learn that India has an exceptionally small bureaucracy by international standards.

As we approach the coming election season, more and more people will climb on to the bandwagon of job quotas for minorities and SCs/STs in the private sector. The Congress party has done just this at its Shimla conclave. Mayawati

As we approach the coming election season, more and more people will climb on to the bandwagon of job quotas for minorities and SCs/STs in the private sector. The Congress party has done just this at its Shimla conclave. Mayawati

The Indian public and press wail endlessly about crimes that go unpunished, from fraud and embezzlement to rape and murder. But one major crime attracts no attention or odium: perjury. The only newspaper column I can recall on this subject