The Times of India

Policy paralysis has costs. Standard and Poor\’s has cut India\’s credit outlook to negative and warned of a one-in-three chance of a downgrade to junk status within the next 24 months. S&P cites the slowing economy, deteriorating balance of payments […]

India has just a 50% chance of becoming a breakout nation (exceeding expectations of 7% GDP growth) in coming years. So says Morgan Stanley honcho Ruchir Sharma in a fascinating new book, Breakout Nations. There is no better book for

Most political parties and media have passionately supported the Supreme Court ruling in the 2G spectrum case, that the government should auction natural resources and not allot them or allow unregulated extraction (as in iron ore mining). The Comptroller and

The comptroller and auditor general has estimated that the government lost Rs 10.7 lakh crore by allotting coal blocks in 2004-09 instead of auctioning them. The government has contested the estimate as well as methodology of the CAG, and says

The government is corrupt and incompetent. People are, quite rightly, sceptical of its integrity. But it has not fudged the poverty data to exaggerate the fall in poverty, as alleged by innumerable politicians and TV anchors. I have long criticized

The government is corrupt and incompetent. People are, quite rightly, sceptical of its integrity. But it has not fudged the poverty data to exaggerate the fall in poverty, as alleged by innumerable politicians and TV anchors. I have long criticized

Most political pundits have explained the Uttar Pradesh assembly election results in sectarian terms. They say Mayawati’s BSP lost Muslim voters to the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Brahmins to the Congress and BJP. However , this is mere speculation. We

The state election results surprised many. This column predicted that in 60% of states, incumbents that accelerated GDP growth would win. That model proved right in Punjab, Manipur and Uttarakhand – 60% of cases! The prediction for Uttarakhand was that

After over a month of suspense, the counting of votes will begin in two days for the elections to five state assemblies. Predicting elections is a mug’s game, especially in four-cornered contests of the sort witnessed in Uttar Pradesh. Anybody

UP chief minister Mayawati has become famous -some will say notorious – for erecting dozens of giant statues in Lucknow of dalit icons like B R Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and herself. This is, of course, a grandiose political exercise. Yet