More in Longform
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Delhi-Noida Toll Bridge- Loot in the name of Public-Private Partnerships
Toll rates for the 22-km Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway were increased from 1st April by the Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL). Two wheelers toll rates have been increased from Rs 11 to Rs 12, for cars from Rs 22 to Rs 25, LCVs from Rs 45 to Rs 55,...
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Fuel Pricing Policy & Notional Subsidy
Last January the Finance Ministry announced that they wanted to reduce the Rs 18000 crore subsidy bill by moving to export parity price for diesel. Every time there is a price rise in petroleum products there are more or less similar reactions from people, media, and economists of our country....
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Why Narendra Modi can be PM?
Narendra Modi’s re-induction into the Bhartiya Janata Party’s(BJP) Central Parliamentary Board, along with the inclusion of his confidant Amit Shah as the party general secretary, are clear indications that the BJP prime ministerial candidate debate is settled within the party. Modi, the only chief minister to make it to the...
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The Bhagavad Gita , Dharma and Freedom of Choice
The style of the present piece is completely and deliberately Bharatiya (Indic).It adopts the question answer method between the Guru (the teacher – the expounder) and the Shishya ( the disciple – the question raiser ) which has been consistently used in Indic treatises , from that of Bhagwan Sri...
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The Prodigal State: India’s New Nuclear Clothes
E debbasi considerare come non è cosa più difficile a trattare, né più dubia a riuscire, né più pericolosa a maneggiare, che farsi capo ad introdurre nuovi ordini – Niccolò Machiavelli1 …when these matters are discussed by practical people, the standard of justice depends on the equality of power to...
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Personal Inviolability and Diplomatic Immunity in Respect of Serious Crimes
Personal inviolability and diplomatic immunity from criminal jurisdiction still remain among the most problematic issues in modern diplomatic law. Such special privileges have for long effectively protected diplomatic representatives and other foreign officials from interference with their freedom, which may be attendant upon penal proceeding, the objective of which is...
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The Dangers of Quasi-Capitalism
(The Lok Sabha passed the new companies bill a few months back. The bill mandates 2% of the average net profits of last 3 years to be spent towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). India is the first country to legislate such radical and intrusive ideas. Read this essay for an...
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Part 1: A Treatise on the Indian Economy
Perhaps the most closely watched day in the Parliamentary Calendar is Budget Day. This is not merely because one gets to know the rates of marginal personal income tax, but because the budget is an articulation of the country’s economic and policy vision. The Finance Minister presents his government’s view...
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Vernadsky, Noosphere and Vivekananda
Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky the Russo-Ukranian geologist was more than a geologist. He was one of the earliest systems-thinkers and a pioneering inter-disciplinary scientist. His book ‘The Biosphere’ was published in Russian in 1926 and in French in 1929. With 150 pages and unassuming cover, the book’s importance was not understood...
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Swami Vivekananda: A Hindu Supremacist?
Outlook is at it again. It has unleashed a camapign of calumny against India’s most venerated spirtual icon Swami Vivekananda, exactly at the time when the nation is celebrating his 150th birth anniversary. In a conclusively titled cover story ‘Hindu Supremacist’, the magazine published excerpts from a book on Swami Vivekananda by...
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Milk Economy of India
The killing of entrepreneurial India and the story of the white economy A tortous journey from socialism to FDI in retail This white-paper is dedicated to one of the finest alternate economic philosophers of our time, Swaminathan...
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Empire by Appeasement
Great Britain’s acquisition of an extensive empire was the inevitable result of her emergence as a major commercial and industrial power. The Empire was extended and consolidated on the basis of a firm economic hegemony, established early in the nineteenth century, shortly after the last of her rivals had been...
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Vaad-Prativaad: The FDI ‘Reforms’ are a Boost to India’s Economy II
Welcome to the second round of Vaad Prativaad (Round I may be found here). FOR THE MOTION: Ritwik Priya I thank Mr Muthuraman for his opening salvo in this edition of Vaad-Prativaad. I believe it’s fair to summarize his views as following – retail is special, there’s a need for gradualism,...
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Rama Patriarchy, Feminist criticisms and the Politics of Freedom of Expression
On how the Congress becomes Ram Bhaktha. Indian politics is full of paradoxes of the absurd kind. We witnessed one such recently when Indian National Congress (INC) criticized Modi for not attacking Ram Jethmalani for his remark in which he termed Ram as a “bad husband”. Some days earlier Karan...