Page 3 - Shreekant Sambrani

Caste, American style

Book review of Caste: The lies that Divide Us

The stimulus that wasn't

The bulk of Ms Sitharaman's proposals addressed supply problems, with only occasional and cursory references to demand, mostly as an afterthought

Mr Modi's mojo

Coronavirus has occasioned us to see how copious Mr Modi's mojo bag is

Pride and prejudices

The writing is meandering. Long asides interrupt the narrative out of the blue; references to events yet to be described appear with regularity

Modi 2.0: Baptism by (economic) fire

Modi 2.0 certainly matched Roosevelt's despatch in managing legislative affairs in its early days

Gizmos & early users

So Mr Modi might be right in claiming to have used a digital camera in 1987, because Megavision started selling its Tessera camera then

Modi: From pariah to messiah?

In 2014, Mr Modi was the leader of a successful campaign, not the campaign himself

Citizen Raj: Surjit Bhalla's book on polls offers a platter of tasty facts

His treatment of developments in all but the last two decades is cursory and at times not convincing

Credibility counts

The right response to surveys showing unexpected behaviour of key parameters is not to suppress them or cast doubts

Manohar Parrikar: Man with a single minded devotion to take Goa forward

He was an exceptional IITian, an exceptional politician and above all, an exceptional human being

On farm distress, reform and dole

Governments make budgets to retain and consolidate their hold on power, not to please opponents or economists

Russell Wayne Baker (1925-2019): Observer of absurdities

Baker stands out even in this exalted company. He celebrated the ordinary and the everyday life, championing the little men and women considered of no consequence by the system

De-risking Bharat through UBI

Stripped of political hyperbole, that is exactly what rural India- in other words, Bharat as is evocatively called - yearns for.

Time for true universal basic income

If the new basic income programme is restricted to the bottom 50 per cent of the population, both urban and rural, it would cover the most vulnerable groups

Dance of the hemlock drinkers

It is tempting to conjure up similar meetings in the course of the assembly elections as Mr Baker had done 50 years ago

Farm distress, MSPs and UBI

Universal basic income as a concept is still a work in progress and needs much debate and elaboration. Its acceptance would be fraught with political risks

Unsound Modinomics of MSPs

The consequences of overproduction of paddy and sugarcane are particularly grievous

Modi the gladiator

Mr Modi is the first state chief minister to have been the prime minister for nearly four years

In Gujarat, again a Modi referendum

The formal outcome of the contest will be known on December 18. Be prepared for history repeating itself, possibly even more forcefully

Nehru in the time of Modi

The criticisms gain traction because of the identity of the Nehru-Gandhi family with what now passes for Congress ideology