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Do you believe the fiscal consolidation plan?

"If government has to walk alone to face the challenge of growth, well we will walk alone."  That was the Finance Minister, upset that RBI hasn’t cut policy rates.  Reportedly, Deputy Chairman of...

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A Strange Kind of Trial

There is a builder-politician nexus and real estate development is characterised by non-transparency, discretion and lack of regulation. To the extent regulation exists, it isn't enforced. We need to...

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2G auction flop does not prove that Raja, Sibal were right

Rs 9408 crores is all we have got from the 2G auction.  The growth figures don’t look that good.  At the beginning of the year, government spokespersons talked about 7 to 7.5% GDP growth.  That was...

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Let's make populism less popular now

It is sometimes argued India doesn't reform until there is a crisis . That thesis is entirely based on the 1991 experience. One-off episodes don't constitute a proper sample. Exogenous shocks may...

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The country needs early elections

Parliament’s Winter Session has started and it is indeed a winter of discontent, without anything to make it a glorious summer.  Parliament’s core business is legislative and there is a window of 20...

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Dangerously Direct Transfers

A little over 220 million Indians have got Aadhaar cards.  Aadhaar has biometry and Aadhaar has cards.  The way I understand it, Aadhaar cards are for residents of India, while subsequent National...

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The private and the public in primary health-care

There is a new paper by Jishnu Das and his colleagues, following up on earlier work.  This can be found here. At the risk of some generalization, India does better on poverty reduction and...

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Weeds and biotechnology

"To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds... The soil is this, that thou dost common grow." That is Shakespeare, Sonnet No 69. One can't precisely pin down aweed, identification is subjective. I...

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Weeds and biotechnology

"To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds... The soil is this, that thou dost common grow." That is Shakespeare, Sonnet No 69. One can't precisely pin down aweed, identification is subjective. I...

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Vivekananda's material wisdom

Swami Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863. So, in a few days, his 150th birth anniversary will be celebrated in sundry ways. A lot has been written on Swami Vivekananda and more will be written,...

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RBI does the expected

RBI hasn’t done anything unexpected. Policy rates are unchanged.  If at all, there was some expectation about CRR being cut by 50 basis points or thereabouts, and that hasn’t happened.   First, real...

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12th Plan document is ambiguous

The NDC meeting puts formal stamp of approval to 12th Plan (2012-17) document.  The document has been in public domain for a few weeks and will now be examined and dissected.  On growth, there are...

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Police non-reform: IGP system better?

Let me give you some quotes first. “The corruption of the constable is more intolerable because of the greater opportunities of oppression and extortion which his police powers afford, because of the...

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Not Quite Captains Courageous

To reduce inequality in access to opportunities, first prune the number of central schemesSuresh Tendulkar recounts an anecdote, in a volume brought out a couple of years ago in honour of Montek Singh...

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Politicians and criminals

What are major crimes?  One would probably include rape, molestation and sexual harassment, human trafficking, murder, kidnapping and abduction, dowry deaths, terrorism and so on.  There is no need to...

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Shanghai in India: Gujarat's Dholera smart city concept overwhelming

A long time ago, in an age far, far away, there was talk of turning Mumbai into Shanghai. Impressed with China's infrastructure, people often mention Shanghai. Sometimes, they actually mean Pudong,...

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Beliefs about genetically modified crops turned out to be little more than...

There was plenty of stuff floating around on Mark Lynas earlier and there is plenty of stuff floating around on Mark Lynas now.  He has been an influential author, helping shape public opinion on the...

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Tax rates in India are high and constitute an important reason for tax evasion

There is a shock whenever it is mentioned around 33 million individuals pay income taxes in India and that a small percentage has declared incomes above 20 lakhs.  There are public expenditure demands...

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Flap Over Direct Selling

We don't know what direct selling means. There is no unambiguous definition. Definitions can be of three types and they don't overlap. First, there is a statistical kind of definition, for example,...

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An inheritance tax is a silly idea

In media reports about what the budget might do, and what it might not do, an inheritance tax idea is floating around. Legally and conceptually, there can be a difference between an inheritance tax and...

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