In the Middle Ages, the Roman church burned books that dared present an opposing viewpoint. Authors who failed to heed this warning risked being burned at the stake. We are not in the Middle Ages today. But anyone interested in …
For over 50 years, the World Bank has ignored corruption in its analyses and prescriptions. Billions of dollars of aid have been hijacked by corrupt rulers, yet the Bank has ascribed development failures to faulty policies or bad projects rather …
I have never ceased to be astonished at the moaning of groaning of Left intellectuals over the boom in consumer durables. India\’s consumption of such durables is pathetically small by even Third World standards. Brazil (population 160 million) produces thrice …
Mercifully, we have a new Information and Broadcasting Minister who is intelligent, decent and clean. Mr Jaipal Reddy has done well to clarify that the new Broadcasting Bill before Parliament is only a working draft, and that he will invite …
The new Prime Minister, Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, says that he will give high priority to social justice. Everbody will applaud politely. But he needs to ask why, despite the sworn intentions of party after party over five decades, social …
Bihar is an economic black hole, into which all Plan and \’private investment disappears without producing any worthwhile output. In the 1950s, it was an industrial powerhouse, home of the coal and steel industries. Today it is a stagnant backwater. …
Andhra Pradesh has decided to end prohibition. There has been a cry of protest from a spectrum of people ranging from moralists to feminists. Others say attempts at prohibition the world over have only encouraged organised crime, illicit distillation, deaths …
Despite rhetoric about small being beautiful, Indians have always regarded small as weak. We see multinational as strong and small-scale industries as weaklings to be protected. A radically different view in Taiwan has helped take its per capita income to …
Of all the miracle economies of East Asia, the most miraculous is Hong Kong. Its per capita income of $23,000 makes it far richer than its colonial master, Britain. It is twice as rich per head as Korea, which often …
Vision as India’s Biggest Export MR P Chidambaram’s new budget has vision. Most budgets make niggling tax changes to meet the limited challenges of the coming year. But Mr Chidambaram is thinking way beyond next year. He has a vision …
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