Infra development has come to a standstill despite all the promises

Motion picture of still life

Business Standard

Most NAC-dictated laws and policies have been economically and fiscally flawed

Reforms as a scapegoat

A comprehensive study attempts to answer the politics of land and land-acquisition in India

Whose land is it, anyway?

Politicians and the media are capitalising on a make-believe rural crisis

The myth of farmer suicides

If there is one country where the worst fears of classical liberal philosophers, contemporary libertarians, and Western conservatives tend to be confirmed, it is India. The provision in the new Companies Bill to impose corporate social responsibility (CSR) on India Inc is one such exercise in dirigisme.

Ravi Shanker Kapoor: The creeping control that is mandatory CSR

In his valedictory address at the Microfinance India Summit in New Delhi on Wednesday, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh may have called microfinance &ldquo;a discredited model&rdquo; in &ldquo;a danger zone&rdquo;. But it is the politician-intellectual complex (PIC) that will fix anything to suit its purpose &mdash; especially if the thing has evolved on its own and is effective. Microfinance in Andhra Pradesh is one such victim of PIC&rsquo;s fixation with welfarism.

Ravi Shanker Kapoor: Microfinance - From utopia to dystopia

No One Had a Tongue to Speak is a riveting account of a dam burst that destroyed Morbi, an erstwhile princely town in Gujarat &mdash; also called the Paris of Saurashtra. The canvas, though small, presents a big picture: of the victims&rsquo; tribulations and the tenacity of those involved in relief and rescue &mdash; as also of the hubris institutionalised in the dirigiste Establishment. This is despite the fact that most politicians and officials described in the book are shown in a good light; they committed themselves fully to rehabilitating the town.

A dam buster

In the run-up to the 1999 general election, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised meetings with important political parties to inform them of the beneficial nature of market economy. As a business journalist, I covered the chamber&rsquo;s interaction with Left leaders. A prominent economist apprised the communists about the abysmal human development indices and how liberalisation could help improve the situation. I remember a term he used &ndash; &ldquo;litany of woes&rdquo; &ndash; to describe the plight of the poor. The communists sullenly heard the prominent economist&rsquo;s arguments and then unleashed their rhetoric against him, the CII and India Inc.

Ravi Shanker Kapoor: Communist manifestations

The speed at which political statements of doubtful veracity acquire the aura of gospel truth is astonishing. One such &ldquo;truth&rdquo; is: coalition compulsions impede economic reforms. Even Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu believes in it. He recently said, &ldquo;Thanks to coalitional democracy, there is some slowdown in economic reforms and decision-making.

Ravi Shanker Kapoor: The myth of coalition compulsions

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,&rdquo; said British philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke. In India, the situation is worse: it is not only the good people, but even those who are duty-bound to combat unconscionable practices do nothing. The phenomenon of milk adulteration &ndash; which is nothing but mass murder &ndash; has been spreading in the country, especially in north India, since the early 1990s. It has been reported by the media in considerable detail &mdash; yet, few (least of all those in the government) are bothered.

Ravi Shanker Kapoor: Welfarism without governance

Do we need Formula One in a poor country where potable water is not available to millions of people? Such rhetorical questions are asked whenever big events, especially related to sports, are organised in India. The rhetoric exposes the intellectual bankruptcy of those who raise such questions.