The biggest risk that the draft financial code poses to Indian economic and financial stability is that it vests tremendous powers in the executive branch of the government. India’s factor markets are broken. Land acquisition is next to impossible. Labour market reforms are threatened by a coalition of international agencies and molly-coddled labour unions. Banks have […]
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A review of Sanjaya Baru’s The Accidental Prime Minister It is interesting that on the day I finished reading The Accidental Prime Minister – from cover to cover – T N Ninan should write his own assessment of Dr Manmohan Singh on his distinguished public life, which looks all set to end with a whimper and not with a bang. […]
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Deciphering the winning formula for India’s elections. Election fever has begun in earnest in India. Last Sunday, live results from four states – Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – displaced cricket as the nation’s entertainment of choice. Throughout the day people stopped and enquired about the seat count. Left unspoken was not the ‘what’ […]
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The biggest governance challenge for a new government will be re-creating the legitimate space for executive action. This Mint article is an interesting portrayal of the situation in the country today. I would strongly commend to you the paragraphs of the article on the Supreme Court, the CBI and the bureaucracy. The recent CBI decision to […]
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The Union government, has squandered the opportunity to develop a proper transition plan in Andhra Pradesh and has instead chosen to make an ill timed political decision. The Congress led UPA Government finds itself in an Andhra pickle. Sentiments in non-Telangana Andhra – now called Seemandhra – are (chili) hot. A power shut down in […]
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The constitutional issues around the ‘Convicted MPs’ Bill would have led to its dismissal by the Supreme Court. The Union Cabinet has decided to withdraw an Ordinance to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RPA, 1951) that sought to provide time to convicted legislators to file an appeal. The Cabinet has also decided […]
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The Food Security Bill places a heavy burden on India’s fiscal deficit, but the real problem is the distortion it causes to India’s food supply chain. The alliance of convenience between the National Advisory Council (NAC) and the political establishment headed by Sonia Gandhi has given rise to many bad ideas and their implementation. All […]
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When the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by a resurgent Congress party won a resounding victory in the 2009 general elections, it was widely believed that the Indian polity had come a full circle. After nearly two decades in which rival alliances contended for power at the center, India once again appeared to be […]
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The four pillars of the UPA government have been fiscal deficit, talking, inflation and social waste.
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