Business Standard ⁽¹²⁾

Most claims against it are untenable; note ban is more than a one-time step jump Read full article Abstract: Last week has seen a contentious debate on demonetisation replay itself. Predictably, critics have gone on to make several untenable claims. The present article challenges three of them. Claim 1: With nearly all of the high-denomination notes returned to the banking system, the primary objective of demonetisation — extinguishing unaccounted cash — has been wholly defeated. This claim is false on two counts. First, the primary objective of demonetisation was combating corruption, not extinguishing unaccounted cash. 

Be it roads, railways, ports, civil aviation, energy or electricity, the Narendra Modi govt has invigorated all these sectors since it took over Read full article Abstract: I recently wrote that the policy changes the Narendra Modi government has been putting in place promise to return the economy to miracle growth in the near future. Today, I document the turnaround in one important area - infrastructure. More will follow soon. Let us begin with roads. The government has achieved a breakthrough, unblocking previously stuck road projects, while also accelerating the initiation of new projects. Of the total number of stuck projects worth Rs 3.8 lakh crore, this government has already unblocked Rs 3.5 lakh crore worth of projects.

The proposed amendment to the land acquisition Act helps both farmers and non-farmers Read full article Abstract: Critics of the proposed amendments to the land acquisition Act of 2013 have conveniently sought to frame the debate in terms of a win-lose proposition. They contend that any benefits to non-farming entities - whether they be school-going children, patients seeking hospital care, households looking for affordable housing, small businesses or large corporations - would be at the expense of the farmers whose land is acquired. But they neglect the fact that the amendments are a win-win proposition. Underlying the critics' view is the assumption that regardless of the compensation offered, farmers do not want to part with their land. Ergo, any change that simplifies or speeds up land acquisition hurts them. But is this assumption right? A recent survey published by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Lokniti offers some answers. According to it, when asked whether they like farming, 28 per cent of the farmers reply outright in the negative. Among the 72 per cent who reply in the affirmative, a whopping 60…

Read full article Abstract: It is no exaggeration to say that the defining event of 2014 was the emergence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as India's most popular leader. In April 2012, Fareed Zakaria of CNN had predicted that the December 2012 Gujarat election would spell oblivion for Mr Modi. But exactly the opposite unfolded - it propelled him into national prominence. By the dawn of 2014, his stature had grown sufficiently for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to name him its prime ministerial candidate in the May 2014 parliamentary elections. But few commentators were still willing to grant Mr Modi an election victory that would propel him to the top office of the country. Unable to digest the decisive victory the BJP had scored in December 2013 state elections, the bulk of the media went to work to build Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party into a national leader on the back of his rather modest victory in Delhi. Victims of wishful thinking, many also routinely produced analyses showing how a fractured BJP mandate would force Mr Modi…

The government has not acted to end tax terrorism, which means the 'Make in India' campaign is in jeopardy Read full article In a recent interaction with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that if he had had 282 MPs, he "would have passed a simple legislation that is required to undo" retrospective taxation. But the former minister's actions belie his words. Rather than demonstrate any inclination to repeal the law, as finance minister he had aggressively deployed it. The running joke during his tenure was that the National Advisory Council set the expenditures, the ratings agencies decided upon the fiscal deficit, and the finance ministry unleashed its taxmen to collect enough revenues to satisfy the expenditure and deficit targets. Using a term popularised by candidate Narendra Modi, this "tax terrorism" was among the root causes of the dip in the growth rate from which the economy is yet to recover. While Mr Jaitley has promised not to open new cases of retrospective taxation, his ministry too has been slow to take actions that would soften…