governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
A common civil code (CCC) dealing with matters of personal law is a good idea in a multi-cultural country like India given the rising number of cross community marriages– although still miniscule in proportion to total marriages. India does not have such a code. A small, Indian hill state becomes the first to legislate a […]
Read More An uncommon civil code in remote UttarakhandNew beginnings are better in theory than in practice, at least for the average, risk averse individual. First, there is the uncertainty associated with change and the potential risk of disaster. Far better to extend a humdrum today rather than reach for the stars and suffer a potential implosion on the way. Second, only time […]
Read More Year-End MusingsThe Kyoto Protocol of 1995 enshrined the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” as the cornerstone for climate action. Ending the degradation of the global commons remains a priority as evidenced by 193 parties to the Paris Agreement filing nationally determined targets, with 151 parties submitting enhanced targets in 2021. This remains a transformative moment […]
Read More COP 28 can not ignore the need to own-source Energy like coal for IndiaSeventy percent of Indians believe that their country is a world leader in climate action—the highest endorsement across 29 advanced, upper- and lower-middle-income economies excluding China, as per the IPSOS Global Survey. On average, only 31 percent globally and 41 percent of Swedes and 38 percent of Singaporeans share this belief about their own countries. […]
Read More IPSOS Global Survey 2023 on Climate Action PerceptionsThe “One Nation, One Election” (ONOE) proposal of the BJP is in the best traditions of zero-based budgeting, where nothing is off the table, so long as it makes sense and is profitable. Clearly, the BJP sees gains in the conflation of national and state-level elections, before four large states precede the Lok Sabha to […]
Read More Creative Disruption or Murder of Democracy?Differential time horizons for net zero imply that there is no universal price for mitigating carbon emissions. Decarbonisation plans are proliferating globally, including in India. First came the plan to electrify vehicles, even before electricity supply standards had reached international levels of 0.999 reliability. Next, the near-term goal of having 50 percent of electrical energy […]
Read More Decarbonisation VignettesState government performance is going to matter in the coming months of fiscal and economic stress. The national performance will depend in the near term, crucially, on how the better-performing states pull their weight. One criterion of state performance is the budget allocations for fiscal 2023-24 starting April 1st and the outlook on fiscal rectitude. […]
Read More Can flying geese-Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu-Power India’s growth with stability?Between 2010 and 2022, the combined revenue of the top five digital titans in the United States (US) (Amazon, Meta, Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft) exploded from US$ 181 billion to US$3.9 trillion a scorching growth of 29 percent per year. This rapid accretion of economic power invited deeper scrutiny and rethinking of whether the regulatory […]
Read More Taming Digital TitansThe Union Finance Secretary dismissed l’affair Adani as a storm in a teacup. He is right of course. The personal misfortunes of the Adani family are unlikely to shake the financial stability of India. But it is a rather large teacup, even post denouement, valued at US$60 billion. If the “teacups” of all of India’s […]
Read More The Downside of Systematically Important BillionairesOur garden is full of goodies come and get what you need. This is what Finance Minister Sitharaman conveyed to the people (and voters) of India in her 2023-24 budget speech. Adding to the ever deepening gift bag that the Modi administration has held out to voters since 2015, the budget not only slashed income […]
Read More Budget Bounties 2023-24
Opinion India 