July 19, 2008

The government is sinking everyday in the quicksand of inflation. It did not pass on the increase in international price of oil to the consumer. Instead it asked the public sector oil companies to buy expensive oil in the international markets and sell it cheap to domestic consumers. This may be a good political strategy. It helped contain the price rise. But there is no such thing as a free lunch. The price of this profligacy has to be paid. The public sector oil companies incurred heavy (…)

The goal of basic science is to observe nature with objectivity. Michael Faraday’s skill and discipline in doing so enabled him to demonstrate that electricity and magnetism were separate and that the former could be generated by moving a magnet towards a ring of metal wire. The “discovery” of electro-magnetism helped technology translate this fact into critical applications like the motor car and the aeroplane. Without Faraday’s labours on detecting the energy and intelligence in the (…)

[(Book Review)]
Special Economic Zones in India—Myths and Realities by Amitendu Palit and Subhomoy Bhattacharjee; Anthem South Asian Studies, Delhi; 2007; 198 pages.
The book explores, as its title suggests, some of the myths and realities of the economic prospect of SEZs in India. SEZs, as we all know, are an improved version of the existing EPZ to generate more export. The authors do not question the “export oriented” development but addresses whether the proposed SEZs would generate (…)