TOI2012 ⁽¹⁰⁾

Read full article Abstract: Nitish Kumar has lifted the state from the depths, but much remains to be done The political row between chief ministers Nitish Kumar of Bihar and Narendra Modi of Gujarat has spilled over into an acrimonious debate on the performance of their respective states. Defenders of each state have gone on to rubbish the accomplishments of the other state. This is a painful spectacle since the achievements of both states are considerable and deserving of celebration rather than rebuke.

There is widespread belief in India today that one of the country's two main political parties, the Indian National Congress, has now run its course and will sink into oblivion. Unlike past predictions of the Congress's inevitable demise, this time the forecast of fatal decline is probably right. Read full article (on Project Syndicate) NEW YORK – Politics in Asia’s two giants, India and China, has suddenly turned very uncertain. China remains in authoritarian mode, of course. But egregious human-rights violations and suppression of dissent are raising the specter of growing internal disruptions, particularly in the wake of purges within the top leadership. By contrast, India, with its firmly rooted liberal democracy, smells to some like roses. But many believe that India, too, faces uncertain political prospects. In particular, there is widespread belief in India today that one of the country’s two main political parties, the Indian National Congress, essentially run by Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul Gandhi, has now run its course and will sink into oblivion. According to The Economist: “The Congress Party…is in a funk” and “in…

Read full article Abstract: It's unfortunate that the nation barely remembers Narasimha Rao, architect of the new India. Fifty years from now when historians take stock of the makers of the new India, two individuals from our times will figure prominently on their lists: Prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. If justice prevails, by then, the nation would have also honoured them with Bharat Ratna. Today, we celebrate the 91th birth anniversary of Narasimha Rao. An accidental prime minister — he was all set to retire from politics and return to his native Andhra Pradesh when the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 placed him at the centre of Indian political scene — his tenure came to define the dividing line between the old India and the new. If Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave the country a vibrant democracy, Rao (and Vajpayee) gave it a modern economy.

Read full article Abstract: By the sheer loudness of their protests, NGOs, journalists and intellectuals have bamboozled the prime minister into withdrawing the latest Planning Commission report. The report had shown accelerated poverty reduction, a perfectly plausible outcome in view of accelerated growth since 2003-04. But the critics are not happy that India is succeeding in combating destitution. They therefore tirelessly invent myths to muddy the discourse. If we are to avoid costly policy mistakes, we must expose these myths for what they are. The first myth is that the Planning Commission plays fast and loose with poverty lines. This myth, endlessly repeated in the media, is an insult to the country’s finest tradition of letting professionalism rule without any political interference whatsoever in setting the poverty lines. According to Professor T N Srinivasan, arguably the world’s top living expert on poverty, the history of poverty lines in India goes as far back as 1876. That year, Dadabhai Naoroji provided the first set of poverty lines for various regions of India in a paper entitled ‘Poverty of India’.

Read full article Abstract: That Kerala has the best indicators of health and education outcomes among all Indian states and enjoys a low rate of poverty is beyond question. The state unequivocally enjoys the highest male and female literacy rates and life expectancy at birth, and the lowest rates of infant mortality, maternal mortality and malnutrition. Because the communist and other left-of-centre governments have ruled Kerala for the better part of its post-Independence history, analysts routinely attribute its superior achievements in health and education to the high priority these governments have allegedly assigned to equity and related social goals over time. This view has gained so much currency that, while its advocates feel little obligation to offer supporting evidence, detractors remain ill at ease to insist upon it.