governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
We have needed one since the 2008 global financial crisis when massive fiscal interventions provided the fizz to drag out a functioning economy for the next decade. The buzz fades This fizz has now run dry, sapped by – corporate freeloaders, who misused the cheap money at the expense of small investors, who naively assumed […]
Read More India needs a haircutGovernments reveal their true character under stress. China, by design or accident, showed the world how national interest comes first, by ruthlessly stamping out the disease within Wuhan itself – at a high and possibly underreported, cost to the folks who live there. Strong willed, independent minded United Kingdom, addicted to significant anal behavior, fiddled […]
Read More Unpacking India’s response to the COVID aftermathNo, the Prime Minister has not become a biological grandfather. But he has adopted all of India’s poor – all 400 million of them – around 80 million families- by the extant definition of those needing support in these times of stress. Vibing with the poor To be fair, this fascination with helping the poor […]
Read More Musing with Grandpa ModiAsking a politician to abjure politics is like telling a dancer not to tap his feet to the music – a physical impossibility. Expectedly PM Modi used the April 14 COVID update to pay his respects to Baba Saheb Ambedkar whose birthday it was – illustrating the proclivity of BJP managers to red flag branding […]
Read More A “Big State” post COVID19How well the government has done in managing the crisis will be known after the crisis is over. Sadly, too late to be of interest to the average reader. What can be assessed contemporaneously is whether government is headed in the right direction. Thanks to the great India genome, natural selection, geography or strong government […]
Read More Political & economic sense: Extending lock down = caving into the COVID 19 threatWhither 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 Indians
Opinion India 