Espresso Economics

Corporate reputations for fair play can be fluff when regulators sleep

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:16:16 +0530

A 19 October, 2011 circular of the National Housing Bank says no penalty or fee for prepayment of home loans can be charged, provided the interest rates are floating and

Indian media prizes national interest over human rights, says Amnesty International

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:40:04 +0530

Does Indian media place national interest above human rights? G Ananthapadmanabhan, chief executive of Amnesty International India, believes it does. At a lecture in Delhi on this issue, organized by

What Arvind Kejriwal should actually fast for

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:00:08 +0530

Are Delhi's three private electricity distribution companies gouging consumers as Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party claims? Ever since the state monopoly was abolished 12 years ago, power tariffs

Never trust the banks: CAG's message on cash transfers from loan waivers

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 07:35:39 +0530

In February 2008, during a post-Budget press conference, I ribbed Finance Minister P Chidambaram that he had made all tax payers involuntary subscribers to the Congress Party's election fund. "The

Rail Budget: As plain as Pawan Bansal

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 06:32:34 +0530

I had not expected fireworks from the Railway Minister. My sources in Rail Bhawan, and those in the Planning Commission had said that he had failed to work up excitement

In India's 'North Korea,' also called the Railways, delays can be paying

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 01:21:25 +0530

The Railway Ministry is a closed system. It likes to remain opaque and beyond the public scanner. Successive ministers from poorly-governed states have certainly hollowed it from within. But the

India must make Israel its partner in innovation

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 06:52:11 +0530

I recently met Israel's chief scientist Avi Hasson. He was in Delhi to sign an agreement with an infrastructure company, which for reasons not disclosed, did not go through. Last

By giving corruption a caste gloss, Ashis Nandy does not make it redemptive or acceptable

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:20:16 +0530

In 'Behind the Beautiful Forevers', a true account spun off as a novel, about life in Annawadi, a slum adjoining Mumbai airport, author Katherine Boo says that 'for the poor

Jairam Ramesh's Catechism on Maoism

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:58:16 +0530

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh spoke to a packed (and young) audience at Teen Murti Bhavan in New Delhi on the theme of Left-wing Extremism and how India can

Farmer suicides, Bt Cotton and emotional journalism

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 04:21:12 +0530

In a last May edition of the 'The Hindu', its Rural Affairs Editor P Sainath wrote an article about how Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech (MMB), the Indian joint venture of an American

Can dainty Bansal make the leap?

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:38:13 +0530

Observers of the Indian Railways had despaired whether the delicate Pawan Kumar Bansal would ever make good on his threat to increase passenger fares. A little over two months after

In Delhi’s battle of the sexes, the police is losing

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 01:51:50 +0530

Looking back at life in Delhi over 30 years since my arrival as an economic refugee during the Asian Games, I find that women in the city have more freedom

Why the fuss over IKEA's cafe?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 05:57:34 +0530

One hundred per cent foreign direct investment is allowed in hotels and restaurants without approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, a move meant to encourage tourism and food processing

Lessons for the Railways from the vote on FDI in retail

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:04:29 +0530

It is my belief that no ministry is light-weight and that it is the personality of the minister that lends its gravitas or importance. Kapil Sibal showed that a man

When a muppet sought insurance cover for his aging car

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 08:09:13 +0530

Perish the thought that insurance companies cover risk. Private insurance companies in India play so safe it is a wonder they allow the vehicles they have insured to venture out

'Transgenic agriculture is not an American conspiracy against India'

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 09:39:22 +0530

There is 'not a shred of evidence' that genetically-modified food is harmful to humans yet a committee appointed by the Supreme Court has advised a halt to field trials of

The perils of India's lazy journalism

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:07:27 +0530

Greedy owners and cataract-ic managers have hollowed out Indian journalism from within, but it is self-obsessing editors with yacht-size lifestyles that have inflicted the most damage, says Uday Shankar, chief

Arvind Kejriwal and McCarthyism of the uncorrupted

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:58:40 +0530

A kind of McCarthyism seems to be operating in the country. Just as the US Senator who gave the term its name saw communists lurking everywhere in the early 1950s,

Why Fear FDI in Retailing?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:34:06 +0530

While approving foreign direct investment in multi-brand retailing, the central government says states have the discretion to deny them entry. Though investment policy is decided centrally licenses to operate shops

A guide to the perplexed at Maruti Suzuki

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 07:59:07 +0530

Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava was perplexed at the company's shareholders' meeting on 28 August. He said he could not understand the rage behind the workers' riot at the Manesar

Evil thrives on Mammohan Singh's emasculated goodness

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 11:25:45 +0530

A sinister wind of communal violence is blowing across the country. A senior editorial colleague tells me that it is being fanned by fanatic saffron groups whose intention is to

Why is CAG silent on coal denationalisation?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 08:38:26 +0530

It is quite surprising that the Comptroller and Auditor General has not advised denationalisation of the coal industry in its report to Parliament. The CAG has recommended auction of coal

Jairam Ramesh practices liberation theology in Saranda

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:23:20 +0530

On Independence Day when the Tricolour rises once again in Saranda, the people of this mineral rich area will hope they have not merely exchanged the symbols of subjugation but

Delhi be warned: stay off the Taj on Independence Day

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 04:41:30 +0530

I am writing this in the public interest. If you have nothing to do on Independence Day, please do not do it in Agra. The toll-free ride on the Yamuna

Where rickshaw pullers earn more than car plant workers

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 03:15:48 +0530

At one time the cycle rickshaw wallah was at the lowest rung of the income ladder. The Delhi Metro has pulled him up by several notches. The compartmentalised thinking of

Is the Finance Ministry's gain the Home Ministry's loss?

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 01:40:31 +0530

At a Pongal lunch for journalists last year at his residence, I asked P Chidambaram whether the decline in terror attacks could be ascribed to the effectiveness of the measures

Delhi Airport Metro Shut Down: Redflagging PPPs?

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:39:07 +0530

In 1990, I joined the Business and Political Observer (later called the Observer of Business and Politics). Every big business group had a newspaper. If size of business and scale

Manufacturing outrage may be good for TRPs but not for journalism

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 05:15:06 +0530

One has come to expect a certain kind of shrillness from Times Now's Arnab Goswami but his efforts at manufacturing outrage on Newshour on Tuesday (July 10) went clearly overboard.

Basu hears the tiger roar in 7 Race Course Road

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 06:19:47 +0530

The prospect of facing the next Lok Sabha elections with a limp economy and furious voters might force the government's pace on reforms. Time is tight. But the economy's need

Suckered by Jaswanti

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:17:25 +0530

In May 2008, when the economic slowdown was beginning to bite, I traveled to Rohtak for a feel-good TV story which I thought would go well in the prevailing gloom.

A Cabinet without conviction

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 02:00:18 +0530

The Prime Minister says the slump in the economy is due to global factors over which he has 'little or no control.' If that is the case, he cannot claim

Auctions are clean but can be tainted

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:48:16 +0530

Coal blocks allotted to captive power plants should have been auctioned since the price of power is market determined. By allocating them the government has enriched the producers at the

Land Acquisition: Two Standing Committees, Pole Postures

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 22 May 2012 06:17:34 +0530

In forty-four months, the standing committees of Parliament which examined the land acquisition bills have done an about turn on the issue of the state securing land for privately-owned and

Politicians use Ambedkar cartoon as ploy to denigrate accountability-seekers

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 19 May 2012 09:18:53 +0530

The Ambedkar cartoon controversy is not only an attempt by the votaries of Dalit politics to keep their icons beyond scrutiny, but also a ploy by politicians, including those in

Time to pension off the professional agitators

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:50:20 +0530

The right to information, the right to work, the right to education, the right to food and now the right to pension. Watching Sagarika Ghose's Face the Nation debate on

Aamir's Satyamev Jayate is indictment of TV journalism and call for renewal

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:16:09 +0530

Just when you thought that the news media was dissipating itself in the purposeless eddies of irrelevance, trying to keep people excited without engaging them here comes Aamir Khan with

Relax, Bofors was not all loot-and-scoot

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:48:23 +0530

If one were to take a purely transaction-oriented approach to the Bofors deal, one will wonder what the fuss is all about. Even Sten Lindstrom, the Swedish police office who

Keep the burqa, remove the veil

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 06:46:44 +0530

My first reaction on reading the news that St Aloysius College in Mangalore had restricted the use of burqa was that it was unnecessarily provocative. I had studied in the

A vote for BJP's non-performance in Delhi's municipal elections

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:55:54 +0530

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can claim that its victory in the Delhi municipal elections is an endorsement of its performance but as a person who takes a keen interest

Why the God-damned NGOs should continue to crow at Koodankulam

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:04:36 +0530

It would be a euphemism to say that I hate non-governmental organisations. They are generally anti-development, self-righteous, obdurate, ill-liberal, conspiratorial, secretive and even plain deceptive: professing to champion the cause

A Tamil news channel walks alone and wins

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 06:52:01 +0530

Tamil Nadu's latest offering, PuthiyaThalaimurai ('new generation') topped the charts within a few weeks of launch and has sustained the lead in a television news landscape nurtured with political funds

Why not Delhi-Mumbai in 5 hours by train?

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:22:59 +0530

Indians are big losers because the Indian Railways lack drive, ambition and imagination. How? Delhi and Mumbai (1,380 km) are about as distant as Beijing and Shanghai (1,320 km). On

Army Chief and the Brotherhood of the Bribable

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:58:21 +0530

A few weeks ago, a former secretary in the Defence Ministry told minister A K Antony to expect embarrassment from General V K Singh. The army chief has not disappointed.

Comment: when ministerial whim passes off as policy

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 05:14:29 +0530

Mukul Roy, the new railway minister, is a very quick learner. Within a day of taking over, he has decided that the Railways do not need an independent tariff regulator

Trivedi exit shows Mamata can only tear things apart, not build

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:03:37 +0530

I recollect Dinesh Trivedi as a cautious man. In May 2009, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, he got two economists, Bibek Debroy and Lavish Bhandari, to do a study

Budget 2012: bland, with some big ideas

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:02:21 +0530

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has so consistently disappointed that it is difficult to believe he will keep his word on the fiscal deficit. This year's spending went over-board by nearly

Dear Mr FM, show some steel in Budget 2012

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:00:28 +0530

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's talent for troubleshooting seems to be on ample display everywhere than in his own ministry. The report card that he will present on Budget day will

Mr Trivedi should have survived, not been a martyr

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:59:03 +0530

Contrary to expectations and his reputation for caution, minister Dinesh Trivedi has delivered a Railway Budget that shuns the populism of his predecessors, and if implemented in earnest, would put

Why the Rail Board is unworthy of trust

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:57:41 +0530

The Railways are a state within a state with the attitude of a village. Successive railway ministers in the past two decades, most notably Mamata Banerjee and Ram Vilas Paswan,

Railway Board prefers ruin to private investment

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:56:11 +0530

Since June last year, the Railway Board has been sitting on a Cabinet decision of February 2009, ratified in February 2010, to set up an electric engine plant at Madhepura

Is development Narendra Modi's best defence?

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 02:22:44 +0530

There can be little doubt that Gujarat is India's dragon state. The past decade has been the best since Gujarat became a state in 1960. Average annual economic growth, at

Why Manmohan Singh, Nero, is a Hero

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:24:06 +0530

Did the UPA use cash to win the trust vote in 2008? It would be naive to believe that it did not. Should Manmohan Singh resign? No. He is still

Rail Budget: neither sugar-free nor Rasagulla. It is Mamata's Fudge!

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:34:20 +0530

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Railways were passing through "difficult" and "testing" times. How come? The Indian economy is growing at 8.6 percent a year. Have the Railways fallen

Prices and A Govt That Doesn't Know Its Onions

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:56:43 +0530

A colleague, who has done very well for himself and lives on Mumbai's Pali Hill, sent a new year's day message advising his friends not to buy onions and risk

Growth Vs Caring: A 'Stupid' and 'Nonsensical' Debate!

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:21:01 +0530

Chasing growth is "stupid" says Professor Amartya Sen. That he is obsessed with growth is "nonsense" says Professor Jagdish Bhagwati. At the time when the government's stewardship of the economy

Aarushi's case: Closure report should not be the end

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 03:05:00 +0530

The closure report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Aarushi murder case should not be the end of the matter. Its admission of failure must trigger another

Insomnia in the house of Tatas

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 04:01:38 +0530

The Tatas are known as India's most ethical group. It is a reputation well earned. Infosys may have has a squeaky clean image but it operates in an industry that

Bloodletting will improve Indian journalism

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 04:31:00 +0530

By publishing the taped conversations that Tata group and Reliance Industries lobbyist Niira Radia had with select journalists, magazines Open and Outlook, and Mail Today newspaper have broken an unwritten

Will President Obama be fussy about handshakes?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 04:00:17 +0530

President Barack Obama is not visiting Bangalore or Hyderabad but can he avoid shaking hands with IT industry leaders? Right-wing radio hosts and channels like Fox News will not miss

Media also to blame for pre-Games mess-up

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 06:19:59 +0530

Guest editors on Karan Thapar's show, the Last Word, gave high marks for media coverage of the Commonwealth Games. Only Swapan Dasgupta gave it 50:50. He said the Indian media

Vietnam Diary: Well-swept streets, paved footpaths & chain-snatchers

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:02:53 +0530

Hanoi was celebrating its 1000th anniversary when Delhi was hosting the Commonwealth Games. Fearing that the Games would be a no-show and opting not to be vicariously embarrassed, I decided

Perks in the Budget are bigger than the pain

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:25:13 +0530

The political Opposition seems to have got it wrong. They have misjudged the mood of the nation. If there was ever a popular Budget, this is it. There is a

We also carry goods: Mamata’s Budget spills all over

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:27:53 +0530

At one time the Tatas used to say, "We also make steel." That was in the early 1990s when Russy Modi was heading Tisco, as it was then called. Those

The Delhi Metro Is Slipping

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:57:03 +0530

I am a Metro enthusiast. So I did not need persuasion when Line 4 went into service. I had decided to make the Metro a habit to office. Travel would

News for sale: How media is squandering its credibility

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:09:26 +0530

News space was blatantly on sale in the run-up to the last Lok Sabha elections. Newspapers had fixed the rates for interviews with candidates, coverage of their rallies, reports on

Austerity Must Come From Within, But Hypocrisy Has Its Uses

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:31:50 +0530

Hypocrisy has a place in public life. It is also known as political correctness. Joining politics and becoming an MP at the first opportunity might seem like a brilliant career

Someone stole my subsidy

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:54:24 +0530

Delhiites are used to paying less than residents of other cities for power, water, and bus services provided by the government, so the withdrawal of subsidy on power has come

Ambani squabble exposes politics of policy-making

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:10:39 +0530

For the muck that he has been raked, Anil Ambani must get this year's award for investigative journalism! He has put a shadow of doubt on the neutrality of Petroleum

The audacity of the airline industry

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:14:19 +0530

Do private airlines have a case for protesting? They say that high domestic jet fuel prices are killing and the average 26 percent sales tax rate is positively murderous. They

Delhi Metro Places Integrity Over Image

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:34:22 +0530

When Delhi Metro had named its chief design engineer to the four-member team probing the accident that killed six workers on July 12, it gave the impression of prizing image

Mamata must fight land sharks with fairer Land Act changes

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:25:04 +0530

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had to be persuaded from walking out of a Cabinet meeting in protest against amendments to the Land Acquisition Act. She has termed them anti-farmer and

Shopping for Schooling in Seelampur Janata Colony

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:02:04 +0530

Parth J Shah of the Centre for Civil Society says "the right to education cannot become meaningful unless it becomes the right to education of choice." He is an economic

We Need City Planners Who See And Listen

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:07:25 +0530

Sagarika's accompanying piece on cities has got me started. I have come around to the view that urban planning is a mindless exercise. Last week, we found the Municipal Corporation

Market reacted to Budget's packaging, not substance

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:32:43 +0530

The panel of discussants I was associated with on CNN-IBN did not share the stock market's disappointment with the Budget. Former economic adviser Shankar Acharya rated it "almost good", Shubhashis

Eco Survey high on ambition, is past scepticism in order?

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:11:12 +0530

Is this year's Economic Survey irrationally exuberant? Not in its diagnosis of the state of the economy and the prospects of high growth - about which it is guardedly optimistic

Do a Satyam on Air India

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:34:09 +0530

The government must do a Satyam on Air India. Just as it did not trust the anointed lieutenants of Ramalinga Raju to salvage the company after he stripped it clean,

Do not be generous, Mr Mukherjee

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:39:06 +0530

From news reports about tax changes that are likely in the Budget, one would get the impression that there is no sanctity to the Budget-making process, and that the Finance

What Poor People Say About Moving Out of Poverty

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:33:19 +0530

Economists have described poverty in terms of daily calorie intake, purchasing power or income. But what do poor people have to say about it? Moving out of Poverty is an

Jai Ho Kirana Store

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:17:19 +0530

One would have expected a Parliamentary Standing Committee having members with a progressive outlook on the economy, like Arun Jaitley and Omar Abdullah and Dinesh Trivedi, to give a nuanced

President's Address Falls Short of Congress Promise

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:36:59 +0530

The Congress manifesto had promised 100 days of a work a year, at a real wage of 100 rupees a day for everyone under NREGA. This was understood

Why The Budget Must Enunciate The Disinvestment Policy

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:01:05 +0530

The meetings sought with Disivestment Secretary Rahul Khullar by investments bankers Rothschild, Goldman Sachs and UBS indicate the expectation that the Congress led government has generated. But Khullar would not

Why farmers should not fear FDI in retail

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:49:56 +0530

Foreign direct investment in retailing may be a red rag for swadeshis and Leftists who fear it will wipe out kirana stores, but during his pre-Budget consultations Finance Minsiter Pranab

The rise and fall of ministries

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:38:10 +0530

When a person who made a name for himself at the World Trade Organisation opts out of Commerce and Industry for the highways portfolio, it says something about the rise

Election contests as an investment in power

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 26 May 2009 07:40:17 +0530

The scramble for Cabinet berths confirms what we knew all along - that election contests are indeed an investment in power. Candidates stake a lot, because the returns can be

A case for reviving the National Advisory Council

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:43:29 +0530

There is a case for reviving the National Advisory Council (NAC) because it championed legislation and schemes that gave the UPA the edge in the elections. Whether it is Right

P Chidambaram's touch-and-go win

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:18:09 +0530

Last year after he announced the Rs 72,000 crore farm loan waiver as Finance Minister, P Chidambaram had returned to Sivaganga, his constituency, to a hero's welcome. He was disappointed

Will NREGS survive a change in regime?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:08:07 +0530

This government is on its last legs but a clutch of corporate leaders and economic administrators do not curtains to be drawn on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in

Catholic poll advice: communal parties greater evil than criminal candidates

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:42:52 +0530

The month-long communal clashes in Kandhamal in Orissa that left scores of people dead and many thousands displaced, and the attacks on churches in Mangalore last year have politically galvanised

Voting The BJP to Power Is Not Taxing, But Will Pinch The Public Purse

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:42:57 +0530

It will not tax you to vote the BJP to power, but it could cost the treasury at least Rs 50,000 cr. The BJP's political manifesto, released after a gap

India's Experience With PPPs: Private Gain At Public Expense

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:34:49 +0530

The BJP and the Congress may differ on privatisation of state enterprises, but they both agree that public private partnerships are necessary in infrastructure. India's experience so far with PPPs,

Buddha's manifesto

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:47:33 +0530

The Congress manifesto for the current elections talks of the middle path, and balance between government regulation and private sector enterprise, between the public and private sector, urban and rural

Voting Is Not Enough, Youth Must Make Their Voices Heard Too

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:17:49 +0530

Across the country campaigns have sprung up urging educated youth to come out and vote. For some it is a brand-building exercise. Tata Tea's Jaagore campaign, in association with urban

Cong could count the farmer on its side

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:38:49 +0530

These are elections that the Congress Party has been preparing for over a year. Last year, then Finance Minister P Chidambaram was surprised when the party's troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee had

Trinamool tries to woo urban voters with argument

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:39:50 +0530

"The Left Front is like gangrene. It cannot be cured. It must be excised out." Restraint is not what you see in economists Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari's study

The Bajrang Dal doesn't belong in Mangalore

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 03:32:56 +0530

For us from Mangalore it is hard to accept at a Catholic monastery could have been attacked. On Sunday (Sept 14) morning, I got an SMS from a friend there

Modi's Management Style Dissected

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:59:13 +0530

Even those who do not agree with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's divisive politics, and I am one of them, admire his administrative skills. In July, I interviewed him for

What's the next stop after Geneva?

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:24:14 +0530

I have covered WTO minister-level meetings in Cancun in 2003, in Hong Kong in 2005 and this time in Geneva. All of them ended in failure, disappointment and anger, but

Going round and round at the WTO

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:09:10 +0530

For five days, till last Friday, the WTO talks in Geneva produced fresh terminology, instead of progress. The negotiations were mainly among seven principal members - the US, EU, Japan,

Winning the trust vote might be good for WTO talks

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:58:14 +0530

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said he would attend the talks regardless of the outcome of the trust vote in Parliament, when I spoke to him on the phone from Geneva.