governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
Book Review: The Last Mile: Turning Public Policy Upside Down Author: Amarjeet Sinha Publisher: Routledge Pages: 293 Price: Rs 1,295 Widely pre-reviewed The book comes pre-reviewed by several rural development eminence grise with whom the author collaborated as a government development professional. Unusually, for an IAS officer, he specialized narrowly in the rural development and […]
Read More Putting rural India firstThe “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?The late Atal Behari Vajpayee (Prime Minister of India in 1996 and 1998–2004) had a keen ear for technology. After listening patiently to complicated, technologically correct proposals, he could bring such high-level discussions down to earth by wondering how these “best in class” options could actually be implemented on the ground. Best in class options […]
Read More Decarbonization: Institutionally adriftBOOK REVIEW Transforming the Steel Frame: Promise and Paradox of Civil Service Reform EDITED BY VINOD RAI Rupa 2023 pp. 233; Rs 595 Vinod Rai — the editor — retired as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, one among a handful of constitutional positions that senior civil servants aspire to, if the apex […]
Read More Indian Civil Services: Steel Frame or Steel CageThe 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 BillionairesFifty-one countries have legislated a publicly financed Independent Fiscal Institution (IFI) to provide unbiased analysis of public spending, forecast the economic outcomes thereof and review government performance versus fiscal rules (targets) to improve fiscal and financial stability. Supreme audit institutions (like the Comptroller and Auditor General in India) do this regularly ex post facto and […]
Read More A Fiscal Council for IndiaThe dissenting, minority judgement of Supreme Court Justice Nagarathna, in the Writ Petition Vivek Narayan Sharma versus Union of India—popularly known as the demonetisation case—has regurgitated the vexed issue of whether the RBI is sufficiently autonomous and resilient in discharging its mandate. India is new to autonomous regulation. Autonomous regulators were a rarity till the […]
Read More Supreme Court Demonetisation Verdit & rBI’s autonomy2020 was the year of fear as COVID-19 decimated the economy and killed people–both rich and poor– seemingly. 2021 was the year of hope. The bite of the pandemic dulled, thanks to the massive vaccination program, ramped-up emergency medical facilities and the roll-out of special social protection measures like free cereals for 800 million citizens. […]
Read More India vignettes from 2022 and beyondIndia is sparingly built. Satellite mapping of urban areas globally shows an average urban built-up area of 170 cubic meters per capita, with significant variation–600 cubic meters in the US versus 20 cubic meters in Bangladesh. The average for the Global South is 108 cubic meters, one-third of the average of 300 cubic meters in […]
Read More Plucking Carbon out of Built StructuresA World of Insecurity: Democratic Disenchantment in Rich and Poor Countries Author: Pranab Bardhan Publisher: Harvard University Press Pages: 240 Price: Rs 499 An abiding belief in the economic and cultural salience of the democratic principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity characterizes Pranab Bardhan’s work. Originally a native of India — an “unlikely democracy”— he […]
Read More A World of Insecurity- Book Review
Opinion India 