governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
It’s the silly season in Delhi. Deepawali brings out the worst – drunk driving, gambling, winning and losing fortunes -but thankfully no longer one’s spouse or partner, parties galore where the sparkle of “jewels” – sadly not including one’s spouse – dims the brilliance of the overhead arc lights. Its stressful working with PM Modi […]
Read More Bureaucratic stress buster – public ventingAjit Doval, India’s National Security Czar is unafraid of plain speak. But he may have overstated his case by opining yesterday that a uniform pan-India governance architecture would be best for the nation. Diversity drives political contestation and change This is not quite the way the Constitution envisages India being governed. India is undoubtedly a […]
Read More Ajit Doval’s plain speakClimate change seems inevitable. Risk takers who go long on property should check out locations in Canada, Siberia and Greenland. These hitherto frozen places are expected to become attractive relocation favourites in a rapidly warming world. Collective action a distant dream The international institutional architecture for concerted effort has been negligent in protecting future generations. […]
Read More Acclimatizing IndiaMoin Akhtar Querishi a suave Delhi businessman, educated at The Doon School – India’s Eton and St Stephens College – India’s Oxford, was our largest meat exporter in the noughties. His has been an enduring legacy at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – India’s premier corruption and big fraud investigation agency, which is regulated […]
Read More CBI the “caged parrot” sings out of tuneEven as the #MeToo onslaught against M.J. Akbar ground to an interim conclusion with his resignation from the council of ministers, we have before us the case of a Uttar Pradesh politician’s son who felt it necessary to openly brandish his pistol, to bolster his stature, in an argument during the wee hours of the […]
Read More Darning India’s stressed social fabricAgriculture’s contribution to economic value addition is shrinking worldwide. But that is cold comfort for the families of 118 million small and marginal farmers in India, comprising 85 per cent of the 139 million land holdings. Agriculture is privately owned and managed. We cannot blame our ersatz socialist past for its poor productivity —one-half in […]
Read More Indian agriculture – nudged out by urban biasIndia is deservedly an “emerging market”. Information asymmetries are extreme and caveat emptor rules, making investment riskier than it should be. The rapid implosion of the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) — a private group — bears this out. Opaque financials First, consider that no outsider knows how many subsidiary companies it has. Estimates […]
Read More IL&FS Robber Baron of India’s gilded ageOver 125 years ago, in May 1893, a diminutive, young lawyer boarded a first-class train compartment at Durban on his way to his new workplace in Pretoria, South Africa. At Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, in the middle of the chilly night, over 500 km short of his destination, he was evicted. He had a valid ticket. […]
Read More Gandhism – ethics? or just good politics.
Opinion India 