Nitin Desai

Persistent caste inequality, limited inter-caste mobility and unequal access to quality education and jobs continue to slow India's social modernisation despite decades of economic growth

As the Union Budget nears, the focus must shift to debt, deficits, and borrowing from household savings, and how these choices affect private investment, manufacturing growth, and jobs

China's growth highlights the need for India to shift policy support towards new firms, boost manufacturing, R&D spending, and empower states and cities to drive entrepreneurship and competitiveness

India must look beyond employment and export growth to innovation that can compete with the US and China

This narrative about India's development is described as an odyssey, perhaps because of the policy shortfalls and mishaps in the development voyage

The role of governments in influencing policy choices in internet governance has now been established. The previously dominant role of the US government has been diluted

The group of Non-Annex I countries can no longer be fully identified with the developing states, as 20 Non-Annex I countries are now included in the World Bank's list of high-income countries

At COP 30 this November, the primary goal must be to increase pressure on developed countries to move faster and more credibly on climate mitigation

A major area of success that was important for speeding up development in the post-World War II era was the trade agreement among nations

Public support for innovation must shift towards radical improvements in higher education and financial support for startups and new innovators

India, in fact, was a major exporter to West Asia, where two large empires - the Safavid and the Ottoman - provided a lucrative marketing area

The shift away from the '90s started with the turn of the millennium. Now it is even worse with the US asserting what it still considers its paramount power

Ensuring manufacturing growth consistent with our development aims requires the government becoming less entrepreneurial and the corporations becoming much more entrepreneurial

The finance minister must focus on her direct responsibilities, not on programmes where her role is supportive

Dr Singh was very conscious of the fact that he had risen from a poor family to the highest levels of power, which shaped his view of his responsibilities

The policies of the first decade-and-a half of planned development are better characterised as Nehruvian Humanism

The growth boom in manufacturing that India experienced following the shift of focus from public sector to the private sector was driven more by market-friendly than business-friendly interventions

Growth is driven by technological dynamism even more than by security for private capital

Caste equality can be promoted only by making caste a minor part of inheritance in a society where more and more families are inter-caste connected

Political acceptability comes more readily to a govt visibly involved in supporting non-corporate private sector, reducing income inequalities and regional disparities, and addressing caste concerns