governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
Whither art thou going? This is the question that will now be asked of the flood of COVID refugees fleeing the cruel and unfeeling cities to the “safety” of their rural homes. District authorities and border controls will now turn them back to the hell holes they tried to escape from. To what end? Return […]
Read More Quovadis COVID refugees?Many couples intending to get married stress test their relationship to determine whether it goes deeper than the kiss-kiss-bye-bye-baby level. Professionals can design a premarital experience – like reality TV shows do – to bring out the best and the worst in you so you can both make a considered choice. The ongoing novel COVID experience […]
Read More Work with not against communities, to manage COVID 19It’s a beautiful, clear, clean night. But the streets are empty. The traffic is sparse –its absence is soothing as compared to the usual nerve-wracking clatter. Houses are full and public spaces sparsely populated. Cities are blanketed in a pall of apprehension and sobriety — almost village-like, where chudails (witches) lurk around every peepul tree […]
Read More Th lockdown is an overkill that won’t tame the virusThe bad news emanating from the slowing Indian economy over the last two years makes it counter-intuitive to imagine that COVID could be a blessing in disguise for halting the slow grind downwards. A crisis is also an opportunity COVID is a crisis and India – all of it- including whataboutery experts, cynics and most […]
Read More Use COVID to heal society“Wish the Corona came with free Tacos” is just one version of the many macabre jokes doing the social media rounds. Another is “Covid-19 has done more for Digital India than Demon”. Put these two together and you get exactly the right way to think about what it’s done to urban India. Urban India most […]
Read More The C virus and us urban IndiansThe money this deal could fetch the Union government is just the tip of the iceberg. Government owns just over 53 per cent of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). Valued at 20 times the earning per share (the same as Reliance Industries) the fair price for handing over strategic control of the company should be […]
Read More Privatizing Bharat Petroleum is a big dealSome babies never grow up. Vodafone Idea is one such fat, old, baby which is now crying for help. That the agreements for Telecom Licensees are badly worded is obvious from the unintended Kafkaesque consequences emanating from the strict legal interpretation by the Supreme Court. Indian utility regulation deeply flawed Sadly, this is not the first […]
Read More Indian utilities are babies which should go with their bath waterOk, so let me be open about this. Trump and I are alike. Well, not in every which way – I am short, dark and I don’t dye my hair. But what we share is a mad fascination for the Godfather written in 1969 by Mario Puzo and filmed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1972. […]
Read More Trump and I are alike in our love for GodfatherMartin Wolf CBE is best known for being, since 1996, the Chief Economics Commentator at the prestigious Financial Times (FT) newspaper published from London since 1888 on distinctive “light salmon pink” newsprint. The Financial Times – news for the well heeled If you hire a Rolls Royce, to take you from Heathrow to your budget […]
Read More Martin Wolf – futurist or mere surfer of financial fashionA visit by the United States President (POTUS), months before the American elections, can be many things — a farewell trip, collecting paybacks for past favours or simply a low-risk, synchronised “feel good” ride amidst millions of adoring Indians — reliving thereby the past grandeur of America as a global beacon for developing world fantasies […]
Read More “Treating POTUS better” is good for India too