governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
Adapted from the authors article in Asian Age November 9, 2015 http://www.asianage.com/columnists/bihar-election-red-flag-905 photo: hindustantimes.com Nitish Kumar has decisively won the Bihar election battle, defying the national trend. Why he succeeded against the might of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs deeper technical analysis of the voting trends. But three lessons emerge. […]
Read More Bihars death wishOnions comprise less than 1% by value of India’s agricultural production. The average Indian consumes less than 800 grams of the stuff per month. Onion is a seasonal fruit. Supply traditionally dips during July to September as only the stored winter crop, harvested around March, is available for consumption. No dearth of onions photo credit: […]
Read More Some more onions pleasePhoto: Sarah Ahmed: Indian. Pilot. July 4, 1995 — America’s Independence Day — Islamist militants take six tourists hostage in Kashmir. They decapitate a Norwegian and kill the rest, including two Americans. There has been no letup in the orgy of violence since. But now Islamists — Sunni and Shia militants — are eliminating each […]
Read More Will the Indian “Malalas” please stand up(photo credit:www.webmd.com) It’s final now. The run of good luck PM Modi enjoyed has tapered off. The monsoon is likely to be deficient by 12%. This would be the second year in a row. True, agriculture only accounts for around 15% of the economy and didn’t grow much last year either. But when you target […]
Read More Navigating India’s “perfect storm”(photo credit: http://www.iosipa.com) Reposted from the Asian Age May 25. 2015 < http://www.asianage.com/columnists/well-run-modi-690> Should it worry us that Modi sarkar resembles the Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, the greatest long-distance runner ever and not Usain Bolt, the 100-metre thunderbolt from Jamaica? Not really. The 100-metre dash, whilst spectacular and crowd pulling, is a good tactic for disaster mitigation […]
Read More Well run, PM Modi(photo credit: fundamental.bogs.com) How justified is Mr. Kejriwal, the Chief Minister (CM) of Delhi in assuring auto rickshaw (tuk tuks) owners and drivers -his niche supporters numbering around 100,000 – annual rate revisions in tandem with rising costs, when he denies a similarly supportive regulatory regime to the three private companies which supply power to […]
Read More CM Kejriwal’s plunging popularity(photo credit: india.com) Arun Shourie- minister in the earlier NDA government and senior BJP leader was being strategically alarmist when he went public on May 1 warning Prime Minister Modi against succumbing to the seductive spell, which the Chinese put on Pandit Nehru (India’s first Prime Minister) eagerly accepting his diplomatic largesse and support whilst […]
Read More Prime Minister Modi says Ni Hou(photo credit: guns.com) An inequitable sharing of power and the “glass ceilings” of “closed order” societies, devised to keep the status quo intact, are ripe pickings for terrorism. Apologists of terror focus on this underlying social explanation for the breeding of terror. But this is cold comfort for the victims of terror who, generally, are […]
Read More Taming Terror(photo credit: india.com) The annual ritual of the government’s budget with allocations of money in billions is just gobbledygook for the average citizen. It is the “tone” of the budget which people tune into first and foremost. What must Finance Minister Jaitley do to get the tone right? First, clothes make a man, as they […]
Read More Packaging Budget 2015(photo credit: indiatoday.com) Speaking today in Ramlila Grounds, the “maidan” of the people’s movement which birthed the Aam Admi Party, just over a year ago, Kejriwal, in his acceptance speech as Chief Minister of Delhi state government, confided that it was God who had ordained the Tsunami like landslide win of the AAP (96% of […]
Read More Kejriwal – God’s own messenger