Praveen Chakravarty

Meritocracy and Indian society

The testing and examination system of ordering society in a chronological order of talent and skill is deeply flawed, argues a new book

Making Gandhi a capitalist

The book is filled with such contorted and convoluted interpretations of Gandhi, so as to forcefully pin a "free market capitalist" label on him

Epic cherry-picking

Book review of Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe

Value propositions

Book review of Value(s): Building a Better World For All

A question of answers

Book review of All the Wrong Turns: Perspectives on the Indian Economy

Technology and government

The copious research by the author is packaged and presented through interesting stories, events and anecdotes, devoid of dense technology jargon

Financialisation and its discontents

What is it about the world of finance and capital, that the intermediary agent is more valuable and powerful than the principals?

Narasimha Rao: one legacy, two verdicts

The book contains evocative details of Rao's failures in preventing two of the ugliest incidents of social disharmony in independent India - the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition and the 1984 Sikh riots

Insider's view of Telangana's creation

Praveen Chakravarty & T V Mohandas Pai: Why 'Start Up India' should not be stifled

The notion that there is one right valuation for a company is absurd. To pretend that the government is the best judge of this valuation and to use that as the basis for persecution is tyrannical

Mohandas Pai & Praveen Chakravarty: How IPO rules are linked to job creation

The current regulatory framework for initial public offerings is incompatible with today's venture capital-backed start-ups. It's time we removed these hurdles

Derivative dangers in financial markets

Praveen Chakravarty: FIIs behind boom in markets since 2000

It's clear that behind the five-fold increase in Sensex and ten-fold increase in market capitalisation in the 21st century is actually the greenback, not the signature of our RBI governor

Praveen Chakravarty: The mathematics of Maharashtra

A summary of Amit Shah's master strategy that helped the BJP emerge victorious in the recent Assembly elections

Praveen Chakravarty & T V Somanathan: Why derivatives are a Pyrrhic triumph for our equity markets

The expansion in equity market volumes is driven by retail speculators indulging in heavy trading of complex derivatives that are economically unproductive

Praveen Chakravarty: Modi win shows path to Parliament is through 11 states

The difference in the seats won by BJP in Hindi and non-Hindi states is the highest in India's electoral history

Praveen Chakravarty: The mysteries of 'dead' and 'deleted' voters

The election day debacle in Mumbai shows that the Election Commission's voter list data have long been suspect. Aadhaar would be a great solution for second-level authentication

Praveen Chakravarty: Indian elections: Debunking the debunked myths

An analysis of vote share data and pre-poll alliances shows India is keeping true to its diverse federalism

Praveen Chakravarty: The mathematics of the 'Modi Wave'

Data suggest that the BJP will have to deliver five per cent more seats than its best-ever performance to achieve 'Mission 272+'

Praveen Chakravarty: The math behind Jayalalithaa's prime ministerial ambitions

The Tamil Nadu chief minister's aspirations to be PM seem entirely logical with more multi-cornered contests, uncertainty in Andhra Pradesh and the winner-takes-all history of elections in Tamil Nadu