Baulking away from the Census, Household spending and PISA surveys - is something amiss?
RN Bhaskar
The metaphor that could best describe India is an empty classroom in a not too swanky school. This is the image which comes to mind...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/is-india-headed-for-further-currency-depreciation/1470652
Unproductive spending could easily lead to further currency depreciation
RN Bhaskar February 28, 2019
Turning and turning in a widening gyre//The falcon cannot hear the falconer.//Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold . . . . .
WB Yeats, The Second Coming
The...
R N Bhaskar
6 January 2014
The government of India likes to claim it is committed to uplifting its people. But, sadly, most numbers point towards a different direction.
Consider the table alongside. Even a cursory glance will show you that the...
http://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/economic-growth-continues-to-falter/1202361
Economic growth sputters. . .
— By RN Bhaskar | Jan 11, 2018 07:30 am
So it is finally official. For the second year in a row, India’s GVA (Gross Value Added) growth has slowed down. It went up during 2015-16. It appeared...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/policy-watch-post-covid-19-rooftop-solar-can-save-migrants-dont-ignore-it
Post-Covid-19: Rooftop solar can save migrants; don’t ignore it
RN Bhaskar -- 7 May 2020
This is not the first time that India’s policymakers have let unsound considerations, and the potential for graft, influence key policies. That can be the only...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/policy-watch-when-the-shadows-grow-longer-and-dread-begins-to-reign
When shadows grow longer than the man, it means that the sun is setting . .
RN Bhaskar – 16 July 2020
There is an old saying that when the shadow of a man grows larger than the person, it means...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/geography-economics-history-and-culture-heres-why-india-and-china-need-each-other
How should India view China?
RN Bhaskar - July 2, 2020
At times of war, it is dangerous to talk of peace. As the poet TS Eliot once remarked (through the lips of Aunt Agatha in A Family Reunion), “In a...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/doles-freebies-elections-and-the-absence-of-accountability/1496631
Lots more doles mean much more corruption
RN Bhaskar April 4, 2019
The dice was rolled two years ago when the present government permitted loan waivers in Uttar Pradesh. The fire was bound to spread. But even before that, the concept...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-focus-on-dignity-and-employment-not-distribution-of-doles
Wealth generation and dignity more important than distribution of doles
RN Bhaskar
The finance minister has been singing praises (https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/india-kept-extreme-poverty-at-bay-in-pandemic-years-imf-working-paper) for the Prime Minister’s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). Under this scheme, free foodgrain was given away to needy...
https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/policy-watch-msp-bihar-maize-and-elections
Were MSP rules relaxed to aid vote capture in the forthcoming Bihar elections?
RN Bhaskar
The three bills (now Acts) related to agriculture continue to raise a lot of dust. This column dealt with the bills last week. Yes, they are...