Budget 2023 looks great, but has little for agriculture which accounts for half of India’s jobs
RN Bhaskar
The claims are tantalizing. The budget proposals look wonderful. But much of the expectation of growth in the economy will eventually depend on...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-what-factors-helped-bangladesh-overtake-india-in-per-capita-income
Bangladesh could teach India a thing or two
RN Bhaskar
A few weeks ago, India observers were confronted with numbers that the Indian government had said, unofficially though, would never materialise. But Bangladesh was already nipping at India’s heels even in...
http://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/gold-import-duties-need-to-be-streamlined-rn-bhaskar/1372617
Gold import duties begin to attract attention
— By RN Bhaskar | Oct 11, 2018
Last fortnight, the government of India released a list of 19 items where import duties had been raised.
What was interesting was that despite a clamour from the trade...
Can India grow to #3 in the world by 2028?
RN Bhaskar
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would become the third largest economy in the world by the end of his third term (https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pm-modi-india-worlds-top-3-economies-third-term-8862006/). He said he...
R N Bhaskar
29 June 2015
Australia is in the final stages of concluding a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with India. It also hopes to enter into a nuclear fuel supply agreement with India (Australia is the third largest producer...
http://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/religion-and-the-quest-for-peace/1167005
Germany's quest for peace through religion
— By RN Bhaskar | Nov 09, 2017 08:18 am
This year marks the 500th year of the Reformation in Christianity. It was a major change that caused a split within the ranks of Christianity.
The origins lie...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/coronavirus-rules-are-for-others-not-for-politicians-or-elections
Elections show contempt for pandemic rules
RN Bhaskar -- 8 April 2021
On 30 March 2021, NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul had some profoundly serious words (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1708790) for his media audience: "We are facing an increasingly severe and intensive...
http://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/post-demonetisation-three-steps-that-the-government-should-take/976762
Three steps to make demonetisation work
The die has been cast. Currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 denominations have been rendered illegal sinnce the midnight of 8 November, 2016. The government carefully avoided the term “demonetisation” because that would require...
http://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/pending-cases-and-political-criminality/694252
Pending cases - how the mafia gains legitimacy
There is one question most social scientists have been grappling with for ages – what is the difference between a government and the mafia? After all, both collect protection money, though the...
http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-policy-watch-house-that-for-a-change-2070936
House that for a change?
This is a story meant for India’s policymakers.
Like most stories, it has a moral too. It is particularly relevant for all those who believe in “Make in India”, in the basic minimum dignity that any...
