Let’s begin with the India story. The last few years have been depressing for the economy. As a rating agency that looks at individual companies – I know you don’t do country ratings – you have a sense of where it is all headed. How is it telling on the investment climate and mood? From a rating agency’s perspective, is it really that depressing or are we o
Someone asked me many years ago whether there is discrimination in India. While my first reaction was to say no, I realised that, in fact, I would not really know – because, for all intents and purposes, I am the privileged majority. Apart from being a woman, which hasn’t been debilitating in my socio-cultural environment, on paper I’m Hindu, and upper caste to boot. I’m
Too much honesty, says Kautilya in Arthashastra, is not good; in the forests, straight trees are cut first. Who knows this better than Ashok Khemka, the whistleblower Haryana IAS who cancelled a land deal involving Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and was hastily transferred? In the second week of October, India Against Corruption’s Arvind Kejriwal released to t
Perhaps more than any government in recent history, the UPA has sought to project Indian power beyond its own shores. Banking on a wave of feel-good coverage of India, at home and abroad, the image of a burgeoning middle class, a large and well-armed military and a surging economy, with all its trappings, has been peddled across the globe by every diplomat, party leader and CEO. From Davos to D
Cricket can explain almost anything in life. For close to three decades the intricacies of reverse swing remained a mystery and a Pakistani dark art. Phlegmatic fast bowler Sarfaraz Nawaz is credited for bringing it on to the world stage. He passed on his secrets to Imran Khan who then gave it to his protégés Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. The mystery of reverse swing reached
On April 30, the Karkardooma court in Delhi acquitted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar of all charges in one of the three 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases against him. Kumar, a former MP from Outer Delhi, was accused of murder and instigating a riotous mob that killed five Sikhs in Delhi’s cantonment area on November 2, 1984. Five other people accused in the case have been convicted, three of them
The soaring Mercury of the sub-continental summers is crucial for Indo-Pak relations. As the winter ice melts near the border in the north, the Jehadi infiltrators from Pakistan get the opportunity sneak into Indian territory, very often with the blessings of the Pakistani army. Firing from both sides takes place. In one such firing, five Indian army personnel were killed by Pkaistani troops in
This column was first published on August 29, 2012: after Raghuram Rajan was appointed the chief economic adviser. Now that he has been named the next RBI governor, there are two things in this piece worth a note: he did go with the pro bono advice of staying away from TV, and the penultimate paragraph did foresee the possiblity of him succeding D Subba Rao... For dummi
There have been a series of rulings by the supreme court in July to the chagrin of political leadership. While a determined attempt by the judiciary to cleanse politics has been welcomed by people, there are concerns as well. Like, the judgment can be used to foist false cases to disqualify strong electoral opponents. It also means doing another George Fernandes – he fought and won
Recently, when the film Ship of Theseus was running at full house in theatres, the philosophical root of the question behind its story somehow did not get discussed enough in society. Anand Gandhi has dared to raise some questions on fundamental issues about life, its transitivity, its mutation through organ transplants. It ponders on the location of identity in an organ transplant — does
I recently attended a meeting at Pune University for a research study on the issue of adolescent girl children of first generation learners and their access to higher education. The study was being conducted by the women`s studies centre there, the unique academic culture of which left me amazed. On meeting the adolescent girls who were a part of this study, I was confronted by a feeling that I
In an atmosphere where people generally view all government officers with suspicion, it is the activism of a bunch of elderly citizens that has led to the recent landmark ruling from the supreme court that effectively bars any convicted person from participating in polls or even continuing in office either as a legislator or parliamentarian. This organisation is Lok Prahari (www.lokprahar
Be it tactical, innovative or merely a quest at being modernistic, regardless of the underlying rationale, businesses and corporate empires among others, are making a beeline to set up a Social Media presence with a foretaste for the ensuing benefits. Not only is it considered “dapper” and “a la mode” to have a social presence but it is also a way of signaling to peers,
Everyone seems to have an opinion on life on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus after Wednesday’s incident in which a 22-year-old student was attacked by her male classmate, who claimed to be in love with her and who then killed himself. The incident is being seen as a symbol of failure of the intellectual Left environment and the liberal atmosphere of the campus. &ldqu
Within weeks of the Supreme Court’s attempt to keep criminals out of elections, a study has revealed that that those candidates who have had a criminal record are more likely to win the elections than candidates who have a clean record. The research, conducted by groups Association for Democratic Rights (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) was conducted on the basis of affidavi
Economists generally pack a punch with a tool of theory, backed by data and pie charts to defend themselves. But when they fight, the latest being the case of Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati, they seem to fight hard. No quarter given, and none asked for. Unlike, say, heavyweight boxers who trade punches from an arm’s length, heavyweight economists fight from a distance – th
After 10 years away, I returned to my beloved Mumbai in December 2005, shortly after the state government’s ban on dance bars came into effect. They were very much a talking point then, and continued to remain in public consciousness through their eight-year ban, recently lifted by the supreme court. It observed that the Maharashtra government’s decision violated bar dancers
The pre-monsoon shower pitter-pattered against the car window as I waited at the traffic signal, eager for the light to turn green and the bottleneck to ease up. I had called up Mahasweta Devi, the legendary activist, writer and Magsaysay award winner, the previous day and she had given a green signal for an interview. Like the traffic stuck in the rain at the time, most Indians shy awa
Governance has existed in various forms since the dawn of civilisation coercing mankind to develop and implement effective mechanisms for facilitating the needs of citizens, through efficient administrative policies and practices. Governance is central to economic growth and prosperity, and to this day, sovereign nations, big and small, strive to evolve efficient governance mechanisms.
Most of India’s rural population and much of its urban population live and work in the informal sector. As the government cannot provide quality healthcare free of charge across the informal sector, and is extremely challenged in basing subsidies on effective means-testing, most people in the informal sector pay for healthcare at the point of service. Many delay or avoid healthcare due to
