governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
Santa Claus is known globally for his — yes, his is still a male preserve — penchant for grunting his massive bulk through chimneys, including, miraculously, the narrow outlets of smokeless challahs, into homes to bestow gifts on sleeping children. Santa the original behavioural economist He is the original behavioural economist, grading gifts by the […]
Read More Santa on good governanceThe Gandhi’s (Rahul, his mom and sister) face an existential crisis. At the heart of their problem is the stance they should adopt for the national elections coming up in May 2019. The dilemma of leadership Doing more of the same would mean upping the ante, matching Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah taunt-for-taunt, continuing […]
Read More Should Rahul step up or back?Photo credit: NDTV.com: Harish Rawat – the unfortunate Congress Chief Minister, sacked by the President of India for failing to fulfill his constitutional mandate to get the budget approved Nothing illustrates the cost of wantonly discarding democracy and handing over the government to unelected officials (Governor) than the case of Uttarakhand. To recap the turn […]
Read More Disaster sans democracy in UttarakhandThe curious case of Uttarakhand (a small hill state in north India) shows that getting elected to political office confers powers but no responsibilities. The otherwise placid, hilly paradise was rocked by frenzied politicking in end March, as Congress dissidents lit a fire under their own government, even as forest fires lit to clear shed […]
Read More Politics sans serviceR.S. Sharma the new TRAI chairperson and architect of “ersatz socialism” in the www. Photo credit: economic times.com By ruling against Facebook’s Free Basics type of innovation, which offers, hitherto undreamed of, free but limited access to data services, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has regressed to a version of “ersatz Nehruvian socialism”, which […]
Read More TRAI’s ersatz socialism kills innovationphoto credit: http://www.dw.de Forty Eight years ago on March 23, 1977 India emerged from the darkness of a 21 month long “national emergency (Article 352 of the Constitution)” into the light of full restoration of fundamental rights. Indira Gandhi- the then Prime Minister, a feisty mother, tired of the excesses of her son- Sanjay Gandhi, […]
Read More Lest we forget our “dark” non-democratic past(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: 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(photo credit: archives.financialexpress.com) Delhi Assembly election 2015 is beginning to resemble a Greek tragedy for the Bharatiya Janata Party. What a change from the national elections in May 2014 when the BJP shone in comparison to the inept Congress Party. The motley crew of small regional or local parties (like the Aam Aadmi Party) also […]
Read More BJP, take five!(Reposted from the Asian Age January 21- http://www.asianage.com/columnists/bjp-dials-100-bedi-rescue-021) (photocredit: sahilonline.org) The DNA of Kiran Bedi and the Bharatiya Janata Party seem twinned at birth. Bolly-wood films thrive on the “masala” (formula) of twins separated at birth but reunited after an epic struggle with a happily tear-jerking end. The BJP and Ms Bedi finding each other after […]
Read More BJP dials 100, Bedi to the rescue
Opinion India 