Friday, March 21, 2025
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-hydrogen-could-be-the-next-big-energy-source Hydrogen could become the most attractive fuel worldwide RN Bhaskar On 3 February 2022, Japan’s energy agency NEDO, decided to hold a webinar on Hydrogen and the Fuel Cell perspective in Japan.  It was one of the first attempts by any...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-budget-2022-is-high-on-big-plans-short-on-a-reality-check Budget-22: Sightless and derelict RN Bhaskar Everybody was aware that the three critical problems confronting India are unemployment, health, and education. One expected Budget-22 to address them. To some extent, the employment issue may have been addressed (not entirely though).  But health...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-is-google-using-its-power-and-popularity-responsibly Google brush with the regulators in India But many answers are not forthcoming RN Bhaskar Google is expected to do the unusual all the time.  It has many firsts to its credit. It changed the search engine ecosystem.  The music video environment....
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-maharashtra-wants-to-raise-money-through-an-unequal-na-tax-even-while-waiving-other-taxes Maharashtra's new, unfair and controversial, real estate tax laws RN Bhaskar In December 2021, the government of Maharashtra began sending non-agricultural tax (NA Tax) demand notices to residents in some parts of Mumbai. This was based on legislations that the state...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-wrong-diagnosis-and-refusal-to-accept-warning-signals-were-responsible-for-indias-slippage India's economy - the clock is invariably slow Ah! the clock is always slow.// It is later than you think – Robert W Service (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46651/it-is-later-than-you-think) RN Bhaskar There was a time when most people had the confidence that the economy would be pulled...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-treatment-meted-out-to-edible-oil-reflects-the-concern-for-farmer-welfare Edible oil and agriculture in India RN Bhaskar The government works hard to project itself as being farmer-friendly.  It likes to maintain that it is committed to a self-reliant India (atma nirbhar Bharat).  But if one looks at the government’s policies...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-farmers-need-msp-till-commodity-markets-mature-and-become-reliable For desperate farmers, and broken commodity exchanges, MSP is the solution RN Bhaskar Ever since the government backtracked and repealed the three farm laws, there has been a concerted effort to show that the farmers were and remain misguided.  That Minimum...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-india-is-slipping-on-exports-and-employment Focus on two E’s needed – exports and employment RN Bhaskar Work on the coming year’s annual Budget has commenced.  The Finance Minister has invited suggestions from people on what should be done. At the same time, the Economic Affairs secretary...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-corporate-performance-3-value-added-is-extremely-important-for-developing-countries   Corporate groups-3 VA and exports are excellent indicators of financial performance By RN Bhaskar (the first two parts of this series can be found at https://asiaconverge.com/2021/11/money-makes-the-world-go-round/  and https://asiaconverge.com/2021/12/corporate-groups-2-are-they-profitable/ In this last part of our series on analysing the performance of  corporate groups, we look...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-textiles-ii-apparel-apparition T & A II: Missing a sound apparel policy RN Bhaskar     -   The first part of this article can be found at https://asiaconverge.com/2021/11/indias-textiles-and-apparels-can-achieve-a-lot-more/) When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are...