Introduction Any budget is complex consisting of many things of varying importance. Often, people focus on things of their direct interest but miss the wider implications that affect them indirectly and may undo any benefit they may get directly. Thus, it is not only important to look at the trees but also the forest. So, it is important to analyse[Read More…]
How do donations via electoral bonds funded by legal or illegal money help curb undue influence on policy makers? Electoral bonds provide an additional of such funds. The Union Government initiated the Electoral Bonds scheme, which was announced in the Union Budget 2017–18, on January 2, 2018. The aim was “to cleanse the system of political funding in the country”. While many other issues are also germane,[Read More…]
A flawed process led to erroneous policy which is counterproductive and which resulted in not only damage to democracy but to huge adverse impact on the public, especially the poor. The process by which a policy is arrived at, also determines the outcomes. Can it then be said that the process was legal, even if formally, so the achievement of[Read More…]
This marginalization of the rural economy is a result of the policymakers’ focus being on the organized part — the modern part of the economy. Modernization of the economy has been taken to be the copying of western modernity. India has not attempted its own modernity suited to the needs of the vast majority living in rural areas. No wonder[Read More…]
Demonetisation is an example of a needless policy which failed because of lack of consultation and inadequate understanding of the issues. It led to a policy-induced crisis that deeply impacted the nation: all because democracy was not allowed its full play. In a vibrant democracy, critique of policy a) makes for a) better policies, and b) helps correct mistakes as[Read More…]
There are many discussions going on regarding pollution. But the one aspect that is being overlooked in all these debates is our development model. It has a major contribution in increasing pollution. It considers material development as the measure of human development. This model, which is about 150-200 years old, emphasizes maximising production, so that people’s income increases and they[Read More…]
If a university privately funded by philanthropists can be forced to fall in line, even if due to implicit pressure from the ruling dispensation, it can be inferred that autonomy in institutions funded by businessmen is literally non-existent. The institutions run with direct government funding have had little autonomy. The publicly funded universities can offer greater protection to academics but[Read More…]
The centre’s estimates are flawed and give the impression that the economy has not only weathered Covid-19 but overcome pre-existing difficulties. But in reality, demand is short, dampening economic revival. Officially, the “growth in GDP during 2020-21 is estimated at -8.0 percent as compared to 4.0 percent in 2019-20”. Further, “GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q3 of 2020-21 is[Read More…]
In December 2020, talking at a CII meet, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman reportedly stated: “100 years of India wouldn’t have seen a budget being made post-pandemic like this”. The budget to be presented on February 1, 2021 will indeed be a once a century budget, since never before has the GDP and revenue collection fallen so steeply. Never before have[Read More…]
Published as Introduction in Chowdhury A. and Alok John (Ed.). Excellence in Higher Education: Emerging Concerns and the Road Ahead. N Delhi: Rajesh Publications. 2020. Introduction Policy makers in India have constantly strived to provide greater access to high quality education to youth. This has been the endeavour since independence70 years ago.This is also crucial for the demographic dividend that[Read More…]
A large borrowing programme is inevitable; data and economic uncertainties show that States cannot handle the matter. Clearly, the Centre is reneging on its promise to the States. The implication is that the States are on their own — cooperative federalism is a casualty. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting has now been deferred to the first week[Read More…]
Interview with Prof. Arun Kumar by Mohd. Nuashad Khan What’s your take on the free fall of the GDP? Is it because of the pandemic or something else? I am surprised that the decline in GDP in Q1 is given as 23.9 per cent. It should have been much more because the unorganised sector which is 45 per cent[Read More…]
What will Indian Economy’s rate of growth be in 2020-21 given the present lockdown? Evidence of a stalled economy are all around –unemployed workers, closed shops, factories and offices, empty roads, etc. Only essential goods are being produced and that too with some difficulty due to supply chain bottlenecks. Agriculture can function but there too, operations have been hampered[Read More…]
When the lockdown is lifted, a package of interest waiver and deferring of loan repayment for businesses will be needed for them to restart. The RBI and the government will need to rethink their strategy since money by itself is not a resource. The lockdown is slowly being lifted. Still, most businesses, except those producing essentials, are not able to[Read More…]
After the pandemic, a rethink on the way our society is can be undertaken but currently the focus has to be on survival. Reproduced below, in summary, the salient points Kumar makes which should be Must Reading for policymakers: In India, the human cost of a misadventure will be enormous. Migrant workers travelling in a truck in Patna, to get[Read More…]
Nothing could have brought the global economy to a grinding halt like the COVID-19 pandemic in recent history. Barring essential goods, the production, sale, and consumption of all goods and services have been affected. This article offers a low-down on the stalled economy, and also makes projections for India’s post-pandemic economy. At the time of writing this article, the Government[Read More…]
An already slowing economy has been dealt a body blow by the pandemic as production and employment are hit, severely affecting the unorganised sector which employs 94 percent of the workforce. On March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a complete lockdown for three weeks for 1.3 billion Indians. All hell broke loose for unorganised sector workers and in[Read More…]
This situation implies that the global economy is staring at a depression. In brief, the situation is worse than a war since demand has collapsed. The spread of Covid19 has rapidly spun out of control the world over and needs to be tackled urgently. Though the problem is global there are national specificities that require nuanced approaches. There are[Read More…]
( Please note the article was written on March16, 2020, before the government and RBI announced some reliefs, many of them for specified periods. It can not be anticipated for how long the pandemic and the crisis would continue. Still the comment is relevant given India’s ground realities, well known leakages, pilferage of relief funds etc.) Share market going[Read More…]
Supply shocks from China have caused a fall in production and decline in demand, leading to fears of recession. Stock markets globally have declined since the big drop this ‘Manic Monday’. They are reacting to the expected slowdown in the world economy due to the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to more than 100 countries. Crude oil prices[Read More…]
The Union Budget has two goals. First, to tackle the current problems plaguing the economy which may be a continuing one or one that has cropped up in the year in which the Budget is drafted. The second goal of a Budget is to try to fulfill the vision that the government puts out. This again could be pertaining to[Read More…]
Three years after demonetisation was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on November 8, 2016, people still remember it as the beginning of a very difficult period. Many have come to accept what I have been saying that the economic downturn in India began then and now the official rate of growth has come down to below five per cent.[Read More…]
Demonetization is all about currency and the amount of money with the public. Since the public has no interface with the Reserve Bank of India, they have to deal with the banks for their daily requirements of money. Consequently, demonetization has had a dramatic impact on banks in India and this is likely to persist. Banks and the Public Ire[Read More…]
France Will Pull Out Its Diplomats And Military From Niger, Says Macron 
Imperial Footprints in Africa: The Dismal Role of AFRICOM 
Hunger in Africa has its roots in a History of Colonialism and Neo-colonialism 
The Climate March: Magnificent and Misdirected 
Imagining a Progressive Pentagon 
“Lost Voices of Fentanyl” Rally at the White House 
Indian Government Must First Evict Dalai Lama & his Followers before Admonishing Canada for Separatist Activities 
Peasant-rebels: lineages of insurgency 
Mission to Free Assange: Australian Parliamentarians in Washington 
Bayer-ICAR Collaboration Raises Serious Concerns Regarding Indian Farm Policy 
Place of Minorities as Allotted by Savarkar, Golwalkar and Upadhyaya 
What is in the name? Attempt to stop the usage of ‘India’ by the Government 
Poona Pact: A Reappraisal 
Hate Speech Inside Parliament: Reaching a New Low 
Criminal Justice And Freedom of Speech 
75,000 Climate Protesters Marched In New York With Demand To End Fossil Fuels 
On the Dark Side of the Moon.. 
Avoiding the War on Terror would have saved over 10 million lives at home and abroad 
The Angertainer Steps Down: Rupert Murdoch’s Non-Retirement 
Climate Emergency Update, September 2023 
My appeal to Meta’s Oversight Board: Palestinian political and resistance organizations & individuals are not “terrorists” as classified by Israel 
Artificial Intelligence: Profit Versus Freedom 
How Can We Understand the Passage of Time? 
Pre- and Post-Soviet Language Policy in the East-Baltic States 
Breadcrumb 
Three Indian Movies win TIFF 2023 Awards 
Ukrainian president holds crisis talks in Washington amid failure of “spring offensive” 
Zelensky Faces Difficult Time In Washington D.C. 
Stumbling Towards Old Age And Looking for Someone to Lean On 
Tolstoy’s Dilemma 
Ukraine Peace Activists Protest During Zelensky White House Visit 
“Our world is becoming unhinged”: Antonio Guterres 
How Chances of Direct War between the USA and Russia Are Increasing 
G20 Biofuel Alliance threatens Food security 
Thousands Of Auto Workers Strike In Three U.S. Plants, Face Financial Hardship 
Submission To Australian National Anti-Corruption Commission, NACC: Mainstream Media Lying 
In The Name of Decolonization 
Is This the End of French Neo-Colonialism in Africa? 
Tel Aviv’s Losing Brands: Israeli ‘Coup’ and the Death of False Democracy 
Tackling Global Emergencies – UN International Day of Peace 
My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
