TOI2013 ⁽¹¹⁾

Read full article Abstract: In a recent article on this page (December 3), finance minister P Chidambaram enumerated the achievements of his government as well as his own. No doubt, he deserves much credit for facing head on many challenges he inherited from his predecessor. Rapid growth and concomitant rise in revenues have led to a build up of huge appetite for spending in most ministries in recent years. The recent sharp decline in growth, which arrested growth in revenues, did not curb this appetite. Consequently, the task of playing the bad cop to contain fiscal deficit fell squarely on the FM's shoulders.

Read full article Abstract: Dear Mr Rahul Gandhi, According to newspaper reports, you have recently asked Indian industrialists why we should have to import rakhis and Ganeshas from China. While many in social media have made light of your remark, i could not be happier that a leading figure from the ruling party has posed this question to India's top industrialists. In my understanding, rakhis and Ganeshas in your question are metaphors for labour-intensive manufactures that began to flow into India from China soon after the import licensing on consumer goods was terminated in 2001. But with a workforce of almost half billion and significantly lower per-capita income, we should not be outcompeted in labour-intensive manufactures by China in either the domestic or world market.

Read full article Abstract: Much of the media saw in the recent report of the Raghuram Rajan committee one ore opportunity to spar over whether or not Gujarat is a genuine success story. While the reputatin of Gujrat can survive yet one more hollow critique many commentators have seen in it, the report itself requires a critical examination.

Read full article "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," so goes an old saying. unfortunately, we are travelling on that road, oblivious to where it leads. We have put in place vast number of policies with noble intentions, that produce exactly the opposite results. The latest example of this is the Right to Fair Compensation and Tranparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The primary objective of the Act is to protect farmers from predation by the government and businesses in the course of land acquisition. But it pushes the protections against acquisitions so far that anyone wishing to acquire land will first look for land on Mars.

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