The US presidential election is still three weeks away, but nobody doubts that Hillary Clinton will thrash Donald Trump. Opinion polls put Hillary ahead by 5 to 11%, which is huge. Many US elections are won on margins of less […]

Delhi’s air pollution season is starting with the burning of rice stubble by farmers on lakhs of acres after the kharif harvest. It’s politically impossible to stop a traditional practice like burning through legal bans: farmers think they have a

Dear Donald Trump, You are running for US president with the slogan “Make America Great Again”. You are mobilizing poorly educated white Americans who used to have high, rising incomes in manufacturing jobs, but now feel stranded by automation and

The best form of attack is political theatre. It satisfies the bloodlust of enraged domestic audiences without causing serious military damage to the other side, thus limiting escalation. India’s supposed “surgical strike” on seven terrorist bases across the Line of

Three years ago, all emerging markets including India suffered a huge outflow of dollars. The US Federal Reserve gave notice of ending quantitative easing, leading eventually to higher US interest rates that would attract money from everywhere. The Sensex collapsed,

The Supreme Court has quashed the West Bengal government’s acquisition of land at Singur (later leased to Tata Motors), holding it was not for a “public purpose”. Lawyers had argued that “public purpose” did not apply to land acquired for

A bountiful monsoon has led some analysts to hope for 8% GDP growth this year. Incremental reforms across many areas are improving the country’s economic foundations. Yet Modi must worry about his failure to create the job explosion he promised

For decades I have argued that the railway budget is a colonial aberration that should be abolished. Wonder of wonders, the government now agrees. Arun Jaitley’s next budget will incorporate all railway revenue and spending, so there will be no