2014

by Arun Srivastava
While economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya have been supporting the Modi Government’s initiative to squeeze out the operational area of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (the NREGA scheme) and confine it to the country’s poorest 200 districts, nearly a thousand workers engaged with the scheme observed Black Diwali against the government’s move to dilute it.
It is indeed an irony that once again a public spat has surfaced (…)

ON P.N. HAKSAR’S SIXTEENTH DEATH ANNIVERSARY
November 27 this year marks P.N. Haksar’s sixteenth death anniversary. On this occasion we offer our sincere homage to one of the country’s foremost thinkers by reproducing the following contributions by the former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. Haksar’s role as an eminent administrator and distinguished diplomat would remain indelible in the history of post-independence India.
Two Contributions by P.N. Haksar
Relevance of (…)

When a Russian Defence Minister comes to Pakistan after a gap of fortyfive years, it becomes a landmark event both in the bilateral relations between the two countries and in regional politics. And on top of it, there is much symbolism that Sergey Shoigu came to Pakistan on November 20 in the second leg of a tour that first took him to China at a defining moment in Russia-China strategic ties.
It’s too early to connect the dots—not at least until President Vladimir Putin undertakes a (…)

The righteous hype in the print and electronic media in the first week of November 2014 targeting Jitanram Manjhi, the Bihar Chief Minister, seemed a little out of proportion, if not unprecedented. The big story is that his son-in-law was appointed his personal assistant and nephew a peon. Their orders of appointment, issued by the government in the Cabinet Secretariat department, were violative of the rules in place. The Cabinet Secretariat was, however, free to point out the mistake and (…)

The righteous hype in the print and electronic media in the first week of November 2014 targeting Jitanram Manjhi, the Bihar Chief Minister, seemed a little out of proportion, if not unprecedented. The big story is that his son-in-law was appointed his personal assistant and nephew a peon. Their orders of appointment, issued by the government in the Cabinet Secretariat department, were violative of the rules in place. The Cabinet Secretariat was, however, free to point out the mistake and (…)

BOOK REVIEW
1. Ideology Matters—China from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping by Manoranjan Mohanty; AAKAR Books, Delhi; pages: 208; price: Rs 295.
2. China’s Success Trap : Lessons for Development Theory by Manoranjan Mohanty; Founder’s Day Lecture, Madras Institute of Development Studies; pages: 28; price: Rs 20.
Keeping in view the increasingly important role of China in the world economy and politics today, there is a widespread and intense desire to have a proper understanding of China’s (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Two events marking the beginning of the long Budget session of Parliament fitted in neatly to highlight the realities of the present-day Indian politics.
On Parliament’s opening day New Delhi witnessed a massive turn-out of people from all over the country, with of course the neighbouring States providing the largest quota: special trains by scores and buses, both State-owned and private, commandeered by those in authority, brought this huge concourse to the Capital, (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Only a few years ago Bangkok was South-East Asia’s most notorious city for traffic jams. It was common for parents to pick up their kids from school and, while the family vehicle tried to crawl along, give them a bucket wash, help them change into night clothes, go over homework, give them dinner and put them to sleep; the vehicle would still be crawling-stopping-crawling towards home.
Today flyovers crisscross the city in multiple layers. Sky-trains provide fast links to its (…)

Whenever I return to Bangladesh, I find that one institution or the other has gone under. The last time it was the parliament. This time it is the judiciary which, to quote a top lawyer, has been “decimated”.
Yet, what is disconcerting is that a country, born out of the people’s revolt against a distant exploitative government, has become a status quo society. True, it is still living under the shadow of the Army. The Army does not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the state. But, to (…)

For the first time since 2009, when Sri Lanka’s prolonged and bloody civil war ended with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the triumphant President Mahinda Rajapaksa has run into a substantive blockade in his quest for unbridled executive power for himself and his extended family.
It is obvious that irrespective of the popularity of a Head of State and Government, a democratically elected political leader is expected to abide by the Constitution and laws and (…)