2011

by Mastram Kapoor
The President of the USA, Barack Obama, in his message to the G-20 London summit, called for a global effort to overcome the global economic crisis and expressed his determination to take a lead in this matter. He said: “The leaders of the G-20 have a responsibility to take a bold, comprehensive and coordinated action that not only jumpstarts recovery but also starts a new era of economic engagement to prevent a crisis like this taking place in future.” He described the (…)

by Satya Mitra Dubey
I
Dr Rammanohar Lohia, a veteran freedom fighter, great visionary thinker, founder of the Indian socialist movement, a practitioner of Gandhian techniques of resistance and an active exponent of the idea of a world government, was born on March 23, 1910, at Akbarpur, district Faizabad, UP. His death occurred on the October 12, 1967 in New Delhi’s Willingdon Hospital which was renamed as Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital after his death. His political followers along with (…)

The legendary Silk Road once linked South Asia with Central Asia through an extensive trade network. Today, despite an array of bilateral and multilateral initiatives, the two regions are still one of the least integrated in the world. But given the new geopolitics and geo-economics of the two regions, they will no longer remain so. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project has the potential to bridge that gap. What petroleum was to the 20th century, natural gas (…)

by Riyaz Ahmed
The proposed multidimensional Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project’s strategic impact for both India and Pakistan is expected to be greater than the economic benefits to be accrued. However, which of the two countries would be able to garner more advantage from the project depends on several factors. It is thus necessary for New Delhi to pay close attention to the intentions of the other partners of the TAPI as well as its international (…)

The Manmohan Singh Government has had to suffer the ignominy of having made P.J. Thomas the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) with the Supreme Court having struck down, in its verdict on the issue on March 3, the appointment on the ground that the high-powered selection committee (HPC), which chose Thomas for the post through a majority vote, had completely overlooked the chargesheet against the former Chief Secretary of Kerala for the latter’s involve-ment in a corruption case related to (…)

The Finance Minister had an exceptionally challenging task in this year’s Budget. He was faced with three major goals pulling in different directions. With headline inflation close to double digit, and food prices having risen over 20 per cent in February, his main goal was fighting inflation. However, he needed to do this without compromising on high growth, which is now back on track. Moreover, he also needed to address the inclusion agenda being energetically pursued by Sonia Gandhi’s (…)

by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Pranab Mukherjee is the most seasoned politician in the present government. He was the Finance Minister more than a quarter-century ago when Manmohan Singh was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He has seen economic policy in the country change over the decades. In this year’s Budget, he has conveyed an impression that he is trying to walk the proverbial tightrope by seeking to please everyone and his brother. That’s not an easy task in the best of times. (…)

Many economic changes have occurred in India after the year 1991, supposed to be a watershed year in the economic history of India. These changes can even be observed at the budget level as well. They mainly include change in the people’s attitude to the Budget, enhance-ment in the eagerness of the people for the Budget, and change in the seriousness of the government to the Budget.
Elaborating briefly on these three conspicuous changes, first, now the common man waits for the Budget (…)

There is no sign that “our shrinking moral universe” will stop shrinking any time soon. Politicians and bureaucrats, even Nityanandas and Kalmadis, do not betray the slightest sense of shame although the earth is littered with the debris of their sins.
See what happened when the Bofors skeleton rattled again in the cupboard. Every Indian knows that it was the first big kickback case in India and who paid the moneys and who received them and who were the middlemen. The blatancy with which (…)

Technically, we know how to check the black economy but the problem is political. More studies or committees and treaties with foreign governments are only to stall action.
Another Joint Parliamentary Committee has been announced. The government has been trying to create an impression of being proactive with regard to tackling the black economy. The President’s address and the speech by Sonia Gandhi in January mentioned the need to curb it. The Prime Minister at various fora, while (…)