governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
Book Review: The Last Mile: Turning Public Policy Upside Down Author: Amarjeet Sinha Publisher: Routledge Pages: 293 Price: Rs 1,295 Widely pre-reviewed The book comes pre-reviewed by several rural development eminence grise with whom the author collaborated as a government development professional. Unusually, for an IAS officer, he specialized narrowly in the rural development and […]
Read More Putting rural India firstIndia is at an inflection point. Realizing our long dormant economic potential is happening faster than our institutions are adapting to the new challenges. Becoming the fastest growing large economy this year with an unanticipated GDP boost of around 0.7 percentage point above our long-term growth rate of 6.6 percent over the past three decades […]
Read More “Big Government” & “High Growth”in IndiaA common civil code (CCC) dealing with matters of personal law is a good idea in a multi-cultural country like India given the rising number of cross community marriages– although still miniscule in proportion to total marriages. India does not have such a code. A small, Indian hill state becomes the first to legislate a […]
Read More An uncommon civil code in remote UttarakhandHigh growth generates the comfort of public unwillingness to look a gift horse in the mouth. When growth is more than double the global levels and the highest achieved by any comparator entity, there are even fewer quibbles. This is true for both startups and national economies. Both are subject to “analyst fog” about an […]
Read More Interim Budget 2024-25: Government a prisoner of over-reachIndia plans to be a “developed” economy by 2047 even as it navigates the economic disruptions of the energy transition. To achieve this goal, India needs consistently higher levels of growth in national income to enhance the pool of investible capital—a crucial input into development. High national income is a necessary but not a sufficient […]
Read More Aspirations must be backed by investments for the energy transitionXmas day, December 25, is also Good Governance Day (GG Day) in India, since 2014, to coincide with the birthday of the late Atal Behari Vajpayee, India’s hugely loved and respected Prime Minister. On GG Day, last year, the Government notified the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) to replace the Indian Penal Code 1860 (IPC). A […]
Read More Harsh laws alone cannot stop “hit and run” accidentsNew beginnings are better in theory than in practice, at least for the average, risk averse individual. First, there is the uncertainty associated with change and the potential risk of disaster. Far better to extend a humdrum today rather than reach for the stars and suffer a potential implosion on the way. Second, only time […]
Read More Year-End MusingsRhetoric was rife at the opening of COP 28 with the Secretary General of the United Nations calling for an end to the burning of fossil fuels. “Not reduce, Not abate, Phase out” he recommended. This urgency found no salience finally in the first global stock, attended by nearly 200 countries, 85,000 participants with 55,000 […]
Read More Beyond the rhetoric COP28 DubaiThe Kyoto Protocol of 1995 enshrined the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” as the cornerstone for climate action. Ending the degradation of the global commons remains a priority as evidenced by 193 parties to the Paris Agreement filing nationally determined targets, with 151 parties submitting enhanced targets in 2021. This remains a transformative moment […]
Read More COP 28 can not ignore the need to own-source Energy like coal for IndiaEnergy transition projections remain open ended about phasing down coal mining and coal-based power generation. This is, unsurprisingly, the most difficult segment of the transition for India because coal reserves are the only fossil energy resource India has in abundance. Ten coal producers account for about 90 percent of global coal production—China-50 percent, India-10 percent, Indonesia-7 […]
Read More Reality check: Coal CCUS Key for Energy Transition
Opinion India 