Month: August 2016

The Monk and Haryana’s Assembly

Haryana’s folk dances are vigorous and fiesty like its people. Photo credit:alchetron.com Haryana wears its heart and mind on its sleeve. There is a lot of brawn and bravado but little guile here. Last week, the Haryana Assembly listened in rapt attention to a pravachan (teachings of a holy person) by a Jain monk. Alarm […]

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Us versus Them

“Tribes” exist in India other than the ones provided for in Part X of the constitution. The largest is the “Tribe” of government servants – to be distinguished from the even larger body of public servants. Sheltering under the benign glow of the Ashoka Pillar lions, this tribe is the worst afflicted by the “Us […]

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A new “living wage” f0r Delhi

Populism, buttressed by dodgy economics, has become the fashion statement in politics. Last year, the Union government approved handsome “real” increases in government salary. There was little justification for doing so since the government salaries were already fully indexed to inflation and the largesse couldn’t have been justified as a reward for higher productivity. The […]

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Federated Tax is National Glue

Border controls across India’s 30 states fragment it economically. The Arvind Subramanian Committee Report, 2015 on Goods and Services Tax-GST, cites economic fragmentation as responsible for 15% in welfare loss. Hopefully, with the GST legislation on its way, the sight of trucks waiting patiently to pay tax will disappear.  Photo credit: http://www.thehindu.com Expectations are unrealistically high […]

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The tax collectors’ revolt

Last week’s “revolt” by senior income tax officers, meeting in Mumbai, against alleged micro management by the Union Revenue Secretary is unlikely to bother the average citizen. If anything, citizens would welcome glitches in tax collection behind which they can hide. Mind the growing gap But the revolt deserves attention because it illustrates a growing […]

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