The Times of India

Indira Gandhi’s ‘Garibi Hatao’ swept the polls in 1971. Rahul Gandhi hopes to follow suit with NYAY (Nyuntam Aay Yojana), promising a minimum income of Rs 72,000 per year to the 50 million poorest families. Garibi Hatao flopped badly. So […]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a campaign to enthuse all citizens, especially youngsters — to join him in a ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ (I too am a watchman) campaign against corruption. Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad claims that the ‘Main

The hyper-patriotic heat over Indo-Pak aerial battles is diminishing. Other issues are getting more attention. The Election Commission has notified polling dates, so its model code of conduct for political parties is in force. This says no new projects or

India thinks it is a potential superpower, with a world-class IT industry. Narendra Modi has launched Digital India. Yet India looks like the most backward of all democracies in one respect — the time taken for polling. In most democracies,

India and Pakistan may now have an uneasy truce or a resumption of hostilities. Yet the chances of a temporary truce look high, after the return of downed Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman. The political outcome will boost Narendra Modi’s chances

The terrorist attack at Pulwama, killing 40 Indian soldiers, provides Narendra Modi a huge but risky chance to portray himself as the toughest politician in India. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s victory in the 1999 Kargil war helped him win the next

Billionaires are widely seen as undeserving exploiters. Thomas Piketty, author of the bestseller Capital in the 21st Century, says the global system is rigged in favour of old wealth, so inheritance rather than productive work begets great riches. The 2008

Unemployment in 2017-18 was a 45-year high of 6.1%, says the labour survey of the government’s National Sample Survey Office. This report, long suppressed by the government, has leaked to the media. Unemployment was only 2.2% in 2011-12, meaning it

Oxfam’s annual Global Inequality Report once again bemoans growing inequality, and has again been criticised for methodological flaws. Forget the technicalities and see Oxfam’s India Equality Report, 2018. This says inequality fell sharply in the socialist era between 1950 and

Ten years ago, India was seen as a potential superpower, capable of combating the rise of China. Today China has risen so fast that it challenges the techno-military might of the US. India is too far behind to matter. The