Government appointments: “quick results” scupper deep reforms

The recent, hastily terminated attempt by the Government of India to induct 45 specialists as senior and mid-level civil servants on contract and the earlier agriculture reform legislation, withdrawn in 2022, both point to three generic, weak spots in the government’s reform strategy. Three errors First, scoring a quick win for the reforms report card […]

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Saving Asia from Stalling Growth

Book Review The Connections World: The future of Asian Capitalism Author: Simon Commander & Saul Estrin Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pages: 253 Price: £74.99 The “Asia” that this book addresses spreads northwards across the Pacific Ocean from Indonesia till the borders of China, North Korea and Japan and westwards to Pakistan on the Indian Ocean, […]

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Indian utilities are babies which should go with their bath water

Some babies never grow up.  Vodafone Idea is one such fat, old, baby which is now crying for help. That the agreements for Telecom Licensees are badly worded is obvious from the unintended Kafkaesque consequences emanating from the strict legal interpretation by the Supreme Court.  Indian utility regulation deeply flawed Sadly, this is not the first […]

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Public sector angst

So, what is it about social media which gets sarkari types hyperventilating about their gripes and grouses? First, we have members of the para military forces seeking sympathy for the poor living conditions they suffer on duty. Next, we have a General, passed over for promotion, pedaling conspiracy theories around his being overlooked. To cap […]

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Small guys always win

Star Wars episode VII tells it like it is, in reel life. The small guys — with fire in the belly and a higher moral purpose as their force — always win in the end. In this universe, big is evil. Thomas Picketty, the celebrated French economist, agrees. The bigger you get the further behind […]

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