A 1978 batch IAS officer, Alok Ranjan is driving the development agenda of the Uttar Pradesh government in the run-up to 2017 assembly election. In an interview with Pratap Vikram Singh, Ranjan talks about administrative reforms in the state. How far have you succeeded in tackling the power crisis? We ar
The media make parrots out of us. Instead of working things out for ourselves, we are taught to repeat formulae by rote. The formula on Greece is well known. It went on borrowing as if there was no tomorrow. Such wise and kind uncles as the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank kept lending to it, and urging it to mend its ways. But it did not. So it went bankrup
India has ‘moderately’ reduced open defecation by 31 percent since 1990 but succeeded significantly in providing access to improved drinking water to more people in urban and rural areas, says a report by the United Nations. The report “Progress o
Perhaps the most overlooked comparison in Asia is that between India and its civilisational sibling, Indonesia. These two eclectic democracies have more in common than India and China, yet they are only rarely hyphenated. While China’s per capita GDP in 2013 (adjusted for purchasing power parity) was at $9,800, the equivalent for India was a mere $4,000, putting it much closer to Indonesi
“The top 30 defaulters are sitting on bad loans of Rs. 95,122 crore, which is more than one-third of the entire NPAs of public sector banks.” That is the tailpiece in an article in the Economic Times of June 11, 2015, titled “RBI in favour of developing better strategies to deal with bad loan problem”. That also happens to be the standard quote in the flood of articles o
On assumption of office, prime minister Narendra Modi had emphasised the governance mantra, “maximum governance with minimum government”. In the formation of the government he kept the cabinet size initially to less than 10 percent of the strength of the Lok Sabha as against the 15 percent ceiling under Article 75 of the constitution. Political leaders while finalisi
Bittu Sahgal, environment activist and writer, is known for speaking about impacts of climate change. He was a member of the National Board for Wildlife of the ministry of environment and forests. Sahgal is also the founding editor of Sanctuary Asia, a wildlife and ecology magazine. He believes that though natural wealth has many claimants, in reality it belongs to
There are few actors in India who have personified historical figures. For a generation born after 1948, Mahatma Gandhi’s imagery fits into the role played by great actor Ben Kingsley who perfectly slipped into the character of the great soul. But Kingsley has an Indian parallel in Paresh Rawal who played the role of India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the biopic
The specialist vs. generalist debate in India’s civil services resurfaces periodically. One has seen a chief of the electricity board, an excellent engineer who managed his power plants and transmission systems extremely well, totally clueless in matters relating to power policy. One has also seen a first-rate irrigation chief engineer taking over as secretary of the irrigation department
Earlier in this column, I had discussed what governments can learn from businesses and vice versa. This piece is not about that per se. But yes, there is a definite shift in expectation from technology in business. And it is time that happened in the realm of governance too. The early phase of IT adoption saw emphasis on efficiency through automation; the next phase was all abou
The road ahead has many possibilities and Niti Aayog has to define many. In an interaction with Shubhendu Parth, Aayog’s member Bibek Debroy speaks about economy and issues before the new organisation: What is your assessment of the current economy? I think there is a question you have asked and there is a q
Bad news is good news; media revel in news of crisis and catastrophe. No news is bad news; some space has to be filled with news if anyone is going to look at accompanying views and ads. But if there is no news, pseudo-news can be invented, also known as speculation. Speculation is possible all round the year on weather, for luckily, India is situated far enough from the equator to have pronoun
There is considerable talk of judicial accountability in the nation, but it does not address the key parameter of time-bound justice. Of three persons in prisons two are under trials, most of whom may not have committed any crime. Right to Speedy Justice which has been recognized by the Supreme Court as a fundamental right is violated daily in the courts. Justice delayed is injustice.
Despite having third-largest internet user base in the world, India’s retail e-commerce industry is 1/80th of China’s. This was revealed in a report by eMarketer, a digital research firm. India’s e-commerce sales in 2014 were $5.3 billion (Rs 31,800 crore), 1/80th the size of China’s $426.26 billion (Rs 2,557,760 crore) and 1/58th the size
DR Dogra had spent long years with Credit Analysis and Research Limited (CARE), one of the leading credit rating agencies, before becoming its CEO and MD in August 2009. In an interview with Sweta Ranjan, he gives the rating agency’s perspective on financial inclusion. Excerpts: What is your perception about the Jan-Dhan yojana? One of the m
Usha Ananthasubramanian is the first head of India’s first bank meant for women. Set up in November 2013, Bharatiya Mahila Bank, is the youngest and smallest of the public sector banks, but is attracting attention thanks to its unique mandate. Ananthasubramanian spoke with Sweta Ranjan about the crucial aspect of gender in financial inclusion
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have maximum number of Private Universities. In Uttar Pradesh alone, out of the 21 private universities in the state, politicians have an active stake in the management of seven universities. Another seven universities have businessmen holding key positions. In at least one of these universities, the vice chancellor&nbs
In August 2014, the Narendra Modi government, aiming to connect billions of Indians, announced an ambitious Digital India vision. The programme aims to deliver all government services to citizens electronically by connecting rural areas with high-speed internet network. The project has even attracted support from the likes of Facebook and Google to usher in this new era of connectivity in India
Indira Iyer, a senior fellow at the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), has been studying financial inclusion. In her paper, ‘Financial inclusion in India: Why distinguishing between access and use has become even more important’, she suggests that in India “by the very definition of financial inclusion, the focus of the rhetor
Arun Tiwari, who joined the Union Bank of India as its CMD on December 26, 2013, began his career as a probationary officer in Bank of Baroda in 1979. He has worked in almost all key segments of banking in various capacities – across the country as well as abroad. In an interview with Sweta Ranjan, Tiwari talks about how his bank views the latest push for
