Economic Times ⁽²¹⁸⁾

More than 40,000 delegates from 196 countries are currently gathered in Paris to forge a new agreement to make good on the goal of holding the increase in atmospheric temperature below 2°C.Read full article More than 40,000 delegates from 196 countries are currently gathered in Paris to forge a new agreement to make good on the goal of holding the increase in atmospheric temperature below 2°C. One important component of this agreement, Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to combat climate change, is already known. Intense negotiations are underway, however, on such issues as equity, common but differentiated responsibilities, provision of finance by developed countries, rules to ratchet up emissions beyond INDCs and monitoring of progress in implementation. Under its INDCs, India will cut emissions per unit of GDP by 33% to 35% by 2030 over those in 2005.

The debate between Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati began with the identification of Bhagwati with growth and Sen with redistribution.Read full article The debate between Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati began with the identification of Bhagwati with growth and Sen with redistribution. Later, most converged to the view that both sides value both instruments but with different emphases. But this is obfuscation. Taking his latest book An Uncertain Glory, coauthored with Jean Dreze at face value, I accept that Sen recognizes the importance of growth for poverty alleviation. He writes, “Economic growth is indeed important, not for itself, but for what it allows a country to do with the resources that are generated, expanding both individual incomes and the public revenue that can be used to meet social commitments.” Rising incomes and revenues as a consequence of growth were the two themes that Bhagwati had expounded in his 12th Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture delivered 26 years ago. Notwithstanding his claim to the contrary, in his latest book, Sen was far from assigning this role to growth in the fight against poverty.

Arvind Panagariya says well-nourished Indian children from within India also fail to achieve the WHO norms.Read full article In a recent TV interview, when the anchor asked Amartya Sen how he would respond to economists Arvind Panagariya and Swaminathan Aiyar who had questioned the basis of his estimate of 1,000 deaths per week due to non-implementation of the food security Bill, he prefaced thus, "Panagariya I don't think actually believes there is much undernourishment in the country. He thinks this is a myth - at least this is the headline of his paper." The remark bore no direct relationship to the question posed and was perhaps intended to discredit its source, namely, me. It reminded me of my only encounter with Sen in a TV debate on the food security Bill in which he disparaged me by saying that being resident in New York I wouldn't understand the ground reality of India. Ironically, it didn't dawn on him that he had spent an even larger proportion of his life abroad!

In India, ultra-high restrictions on worker layoffs in the organised sector encourage firms to operate in the unorganised sector.Read full article A recent visit to South Africa has provided me the opportunity to study its economy. With a population of just 51 million, South Africa is smaller than 10 Indian states. Its per capita income, at $8,000, is more than five times that of India. Despite these differences, there are striking similarities between the two economies. While India has 90% or more of its labour force in the informal sector, South Africa suffers from 25% unemployment. Both outcomes can be traced to labour-market inflexibilities.

2 industrial tragedies in B'desh, have led activists to renew their campaign to force MNC's to take greater safety measures.Read full article Two recent back-to-back industrial tragedies in Bangladesh, a factory fire that claimed 117 lives and a building collapse that resulted in 1,127 deaths, have led activists and media persons around the world to renew their campaign to force multinational retailers such Wal-Mart and Carrefour to take greater responsibility for fire and structural safety in the factories from which they buy their products. Feeling the heat, a set of predominantly European retail chains, including Carrefour, Benetton, Marks &Spencer, El Corte Inglés, H&M and Inditex, have capitulated and signed an agreement accepting responsibility for rigorous independent inspections in the factories. They have also committed to paying for fire safety upgrades such as fire escapes. Most US companies, including Wal-Mart, have stayed out of the agreement. The urgency of actions to prevent these tragedies can be scarcely underestimated.