Linked to EPF is the issue of social security or pension for all. A new public pension system has been introduced which is as poorly sold as it is unattractive

Subir Roy: Rule by boffins & political lightweights

Business Standard

Few know what RSVP stands for in its original French form

Subir Roy: 'RSVP, regrets only'

Parliamentary panel for Health Ministry has produced a report on the Medical Council of India, which would shame all those at the helm if they were capable of such feeling

Subir Roy: The shameful state of MCI

I was overjoyed when I cast my first glance at the morning paper: Raghavan Srinivasan had been made editor of his newspaper. It was a long journey, one which began nearly three decades ago. The vice-chairman, who was just getting the hang of his domain, had a novel proposition for me. Could I take a look at this youngster from the marketing department and see if he would fit the bill in editorial - or at least the part of it which I oversaw? The youngster wanted to leave as he didn't find his job exciting, and the vice-chairman saw something in him which made him (the vice-chairman) want to keep the fellow back.The vice-chairman was younger than most of us whom he had brought into the Delhi office laterally to usher in a generation change in the formidable old institution. He used us as the medium through which he tried out his ideas - sometimes strikingly innovative, sometimes simply far out. A regular senior editor of the paper would have thrown a fit on facing such a proposition, co

Subir Roy: As luck would have it

There are many reasons for the massive victory of the Grand Alliance but the prohibition promise was an important one

Subir Roy: Women fully support prohibition

The Hindu calendar forbade marriages during the month of Pausha - roughly mid-December to mid-January

Subir Roy: Not another reception, please

Overall, to improve child nutrition it is vitally necessary to improve healthcare services, women's empowerment, social protection and ensure better water supply and sanitation

Subir Roy: Suffer the little children

The liquor shop in South Kolkata's Ballygunge has been around for as long as I can remember

Subir Roy: The good saleswoman of Ballygunge

A pay commission is appointed once in a decade and should look at the entire issue of output expected of an employee and the compensation offered for it

Subir Roy: End the pay commission business

The other good thing was being able to have the tea without having to get up and keep making fresh cups of it

Subir Roy: Good the dog was there

The Bihar debacle has had another effect which probably means even more for the entire country

Subir Roy: Anxiety in the hour of hope

Back in Delhi after a gap, I was on the phone exchanging notes with an old friend who lives in Gurgaon. Inevitably, pre-Diwali traffic woes topped the list. "It took me two hours to get from south Delhi to the north, even while using the Outer Ring Road," I bemoaned. "Do you know there are massive jams on the Gurgaon expressway," he replied and repeated for good measure "jams on the expressway".Soon we were down to discussing a solution, and I dropped a brick by saying, "The only solution is for policymakers to start neglecting Delhi." It did not go down well and my friend responded by asking if I actually meant "neglecting". I said I did and explained, "My first priority for urban spending would be second-order cities which could act as a counter-magnet to the metros, not the metros themselves."My friend is not alone in thinking that Delhi's problems can be solved by spending more and more on its infrastructure. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while inaugurating an extension of a Delh

Subir Roy: To save Delhi, first neglect it

D N Ghosh has had a rich and varied public life. What makes it truly unusual is that most of the action began at a time when a civil servant normally gets ready to enjoy retirement

From civil servant to corporate warrior

Old Monk, to my mind, is like Thums Up - which refused to die and was then readmitted into the world of the living and given due respect and necessary attention

Subir Roy: Rummy affair, I tell you

India must not become a 'low-cost low-value assembly line' for the world as that would impose 'a great price and pain to the people'

Subir Roy: Make high value in India

As the Pujas approached the citizens of Kolkata could sense the feel-good factor well up within themselves. They would be getting a great Puja gift: Their longest flyover, from the Parama circle on the Eastern Bypass to the Park Circus crossing, a full 9.2 km in its final avatar. When entirely completed in a year's time, you would be able to drive from the airport to the poshest neighbourhood in town, Alipore, virtually from one flyover to another, without your feet seriously touching dirty earth.This will be in a city known around the world as one of the dirtiest, poorest and most congested. Most of its citizens, who will not be able to afford to get on to the flyover (why will become clear presently) will nevertheless presumably feel better off just by seeing cars zooming above them. Thereby, a city and state fed for decades on a Left-inspired mindset of envy will have completely turned around.The flyover has been long in coming. Conceived in 2003, work finally got going in 2010. Aft

Subir Roy: Flyovers for more traffic jams

India's willingness to fall in line with other major world economies and announce pledges to combat climate change has produced a global sigh of relief. But India's contributory effort is conditional on both finance and technology being forthcoming from developed countries. Actually, Indian should join the battle against climate change for its own sake - because it is good for India - irrespective of whether outside help comes or not. The dengue epidemic sweeping the country and looming monsoon failure are both attributed to unpredictable weather induced by global warming.India also needs to get rid of a contradiction within itself. It keeps saying that poverty is a great polluter whereas it also says that it wants to exploit the cobenefits of simultaneously addressing climate change and economic growth. Fact is, you cannot pursue economic growth single-mindedly without concern for environmental degradation.It is also necessary to question the sincerity of the plan announced by India t

Subir Roy: Is it a serious climate pledge?

The last one year has not been good for prominent clubs across the country which are a legacy of the British days but have mostly changed unrecognisably under Indian stewardship

Subir Roy: Old clubs versus new elites

The awarding of in-principle licences for 10 small finance banks is likely to be a game changer in a way which may not be adequately realised right now

Subir Roy: Small banks can make history

All Indian towns and cities are studies in contrast - between the neatness of the civil lines and the chaos of the bazaar of towns, between the posh neighbourhoods and the slums of cities. Bengaluru, which has bits of all these, is developing some powerful contrasts of its own.The main streets with their sparkling shops are, if anything, sparkling more and more over time. These are also the streets without the potholes. The elegant houses in the better neighbourhoods retain their character - modern structures plus traditional motifs, with green edges (shrubs and flowering plants) added wherever possible.But this pleasantness and sparkle are interrupted every so often by the stink from the garbage piled along roadsides. This is the new Bengaluru of the last few years. Then to top it up, once you get out of the key roads you get all the potholes you can want.Even more than all these, what has defined Bengaluru the most these days are the twin overpowering realities - power cuts and traff

Subir Roy: Start-ups, civilities, traffic jams and more

The Narendra Modi government, faced with three intractable problems (the ex-servicemen's demand for a "one rank one pension" system, the Patels' demand for reservation, and the disruption of Parliament), has already capitulated on the first. On all these issues it does not seem to have the power to do what is right and the Opposition is doing its best to engage in one-upmanship. Is there a way out? There is and isn't.The pension demand is not just unaffordable but unjust to the vast majority of the nation which does not get any pension at all, leave alone parity. Now that ex-servicemen have got what they want, the same demand will be raised for all other retired government servants, both at the Centre and the states. The railwaymen's union has already done so. What looms ahead is enormous pressure on the government's resources with known serious downside.In fairness, there is an urgent need to extend pensions to all who have a working life behind them, particularly if they are poor. Wh

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