India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had famously remarked that 15 paisa out of every 1 rupee allocated reaches the poor. Dr. Manmohan Sigh, his successor might finally do something about such “leakages”. Re-elected last month with a stronger mandate, Dr. Singh has chosen to leverage technology to convert burgeoning budgetary outlays into actual outcomes [...]
Is a question I raise in today’s Mint.
An excerpt
…all the major public banks have male bosses, but ICICI and HSBC (two of India’s biggest private banks) have female bosses. Now this might just be a coincidence, but studies have confirmed that competitive pressures such as trade and deregulation (Sandra Black, UCLA) reduce discrimination against women [...]
The Mint reports that “ companies with more than 10 workers on their rolls will have to report job vacancies to employment exchanges, and those not complying with the stipulation will be slapped with a higher penalty if a labour law amendment takes effect”. More power in the hands of bureaucrats and inspectors means more corruption. [...]
The Prime Minister of Finland says “Europe will need to raise taxes in harmony”
Only changes in value added tax, various excise taxes or taxes on earned and capital income can make a real difference. However, raising such taxes can have detrimental effects on economic activity. This is especially so when a country acts on its [...]
Mark Steyn on freedom. Worth thinking about
But forget the money, the deficit, the debt, the big numbers with the 12 zeroes on the end of them. So-called fiscal conservatives often miss the point. The problem isn’t the cost. These programs would still be wrong even if Bill Gates wrote a check to cover them each [...]
The Stern Report also warned against proceeding under business-as-usual scenario and suggested that the benefits of stabilising the climate far outweigh the costs.
So writes Arvind Jasrotia in the Indian Express in a column titled “running out of time”
But even Dr. Richard Tol, author with all three Working Groups of the UN’s IPCC (that is very [...]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/SC-goes-back-to-1993-verdict-to-restore-merit-in-private-med-colleges/articleshow/4653908.cms
So, its just one step from here to caste and religious quotas in private colleges, right? Or I am being too pessimistic? Or missing some crucial information?
India’s current anti-defection laws – which dont allow any legislator to vote against his party whip on a specific policy issue, forget a no-confidence vote – defeat the concept of separation of powers by making the parliament redundant and the executive unaccountable. Therefore the only way left to have any kind of grassroots accountability is [...]
