Sadanand Menon, in his long rant against the rich, drops a few gems after briefly commenting on the Satyam scandal (which was the result of government and not competitive capitalism – because the Congress govt. in AP sold, and likely under-charged for, lands for non-public purposes)
Perhaps a Rs 7,000-crore scam is just small change for [...]
… is here. This is the time of vested interests, lobbyists, union bosses, and trial lawyers all looting taxpayers. Why should i-bankers have all the fun?
Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something [...]
Ila Patnaik suggests removing the regulatory cobwebs in domestic Indian finance. Otherwise RBI reducing rates would be like opening a tap, albeit with a blocked nozzle
The real challenge lies in coming to grips with the financial sector reforms so as to achieve a properly functioning monetary policy transmission in order to convert cheap money at [...]
India’s higher education badly needs to be freed from its UGC-AICTE licence raj. Mr. Advani’s views on this issue are thus highly encouraging.
If we look at the educational landscape in India today, we cannot but notice that while the license-quota-permit raj may have made a partial or full exit from various sectors of the economy, [...]
I am not in agreement with some of my co-bloggers that some sort of Reconciliation Commission is needed for the J&K issue.
As I had argued in my September 2008 piece in Pragati (reproduced below), the way ahead is to let free minds and free markets in Kashmir and rest of India mingle by abolishing Article [...]
The BJP needs to get Narendra Modi and Arun Shourie involved more in its policy discussions. Not to mention outside experts like Bibek Debroy and Ila Patnaik. This comes from a well-wisher who is just following the BJP motto of “country first, party second, and self last”.
Because after rehashing old ideas on education, the BJP’s [...]
The world needs to end the war on (Edit: at least soft) drugs. Mexico’s internal stability is, according to some reports, as bad as Pakistan – because of drug lords exporting huge amounts to USA in the north where obviously drug prohibition prevails.
In India, Dawood and his honchos have flourished – in no small part [...]
If possible, read the very well-argued book by the above author – Bjorn Lomborg
In contrast to other figures that promote a single issue while ignoring others, Lomborg views the globe as a whole, studies all the problems we face, ranks them, and determines how best, and in what order, we should address them… Not surprisingly, Time Magazine named him [...]
Faith in the system - The state must not restrict religious freedoms
ROHIT PRADHAN & HARSH GUPTA
Pragati – November 2008
THE UNFORTUNATE incidents of violence and arson in Orissa and Karnataka have attracted a lot of national and international attention. Scores have lost their lives and thousands have been rendered homeless and forced to flee their villages. It [...]
Dear Advaniji,
You are one of the few politicians in India who I sincerely respect. You have been in the dust and heat of Indian politcs for more than six decades, you have been personally incorruptible, and whats more – you write well too, what with a bestseller book, and a new blog! Moreover while you are [...]
Why reforms with a human face are possible and within reach
(Published in Pragati January 2009 issue)
NANDAN NILEKANI, in his well-written and meticu-lously researched book Imag-ining India—Ideas for a new century has taken on the un-glamorous yet necessary job of publicly endorsing eco-nomic reforms and laying out his own vision for the necessary next round. On [...]
