Miscellaneous

  • India-led G20 and the ensuing troika: A test of time in the Global South
    Economics Times, March 04, 2023
    While it may be purely coincidental, the next troika of G20 will comprise India, the current chair, Brazil, the successor, and South Africa, the next in line. Each of them are situated in three different continents, comprising the Global South. Expectedly, the troika will enable the countries to continue to coordinate their plans.
  • The Indian way for a secure earth
    Economics Times, March 04, 2023
    Hopefully, India would be forming many headlines around the globe this year, as it hosts two of the major summits; the G20 (Group of twenty largest economies inclusive of the European Union) and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), a Eurasian political, economic and security forum.
  • Getting the ESG framework right
    Financial Express, January 4, 2023
    As we look beyond 2022, the need to disclose and quantify social risks as part of any Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework is becoming increasingly important.
  • India takes the Aatmanirbhar route to enhance Defense Exports
    The South Asian Times, November 28, 2022
    With an aim to convert vision into a mission, India has started to transform towards becoming a major defense manufacturing hub and a major exporter.
  • ESG frameworks must put people first
    Livemint, November 14, 2022
    As CoP-27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, puts the environment back in the global news, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) proposals have become the flavour of the day.
  • COP27: India’s ancient learnings can help climate change mitigation efforts
    Policy Circle, November 03, 2022
    The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) starting on November 6 Sunday in Egypt is a platform for countries to discuss and act towards a sustainable future.
  • Climate change: De-risking India’s banks, NBFCs
    Policy Circle, October 17, 2022
    Different studies by climate scientists indicate that a 1.5⁰C rise in average global temperature will cause 3-5 times increase in extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, and floods across the world.
  • Pharmaceutical industry: Tight regulation key to curbing unethical practices
    Policy Circle, September 28, 2022
    It is high time the government put in place a stringent code of ethics for the pharmaceutical industry to put an end to bribery and other unethical practices. Medicines are key to a person’s defence against ailments.
  • Climate technology: US will seek revamp of India’s IP regime
    Policy Circle, September 21, 2022
    Bilateral cooperation between India and the US rests on transfer of technology in the renewable energy sector.
  • India vs China: The advanced industry production race
    Financial Express, June 16, 2022
    While China surged ahead in 1995 in terms of advanced industry production, the current odds are stacked in India’s favour.
  • Defence cooperation hardens the India–Australia relationship
    East Asia Forum, May 13, 2022
    Emerging cooperation between India and Australia is widely understood as a response to the China challenge that is facilitated by multilateral groupings like the Quad.
  • Diaspora: A living bridge between India and US
    The South Asian Times, February 07, 2022
    The year 2021 was a difficult year for India and the United States, with both countries being ravaged by the pandemic.
  • Connecting the dots: Nuclear energy for ‘just transition’ in India
    Economic Times, February 03, 2022
    In the transition from conventional fossil fuel-based power generation to an alternative resource-based energy portfolio, nuclear energy plays a significant role to help economies achieving zero carbon footprint targets while reducing socio-economic poverty including offering alternatives to existing jobs.
  • Arriving at an equitable response to the pandemic
    EconomicTimes, December 10, 2021
    World Trade Organisation (WTO) had been gearing up for its 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva end of November.
  • IT Rules shy away from preserving encryption
    Economic Times, March 22, 2021
    “Summing-up, it appears that the IT rules may harm consumer welfare emanating from instant messaging services on parameters of privacy, trust and usage, in case the continued use of encryption is not ensured.
  • Agro reforms in India: how can they be game changer for our farmers
    In the Edition, December 09, 2020
    Our farmers sell potatoes at five rupees a kilo. We, the consumers, buy them at 40 rupees a kilo. However, the recently adopted reform measures will help our farmers get better prices, while consumers will have enhanced affordability.
  • Indian telecom sector: Past and future
    Communications Today, October 28, 2020
    India, is the second-largest market in the world, a critical economic multiplier that cuts across all sections of the society, and amongst the most competitive and challenging businesses in the economy.
  • What about migrants from Cooch Behar in this crisis?
    Voice of Jaipur, September 25, 2020
    As the nation witnessed a large scale reverse migration induced by the lockdown, one wondered whether readers in Jaipur are aware of a large group of migrant workers who are calm and restful.
  • Avoid fragmentation of 5G technology standards while bridging the digital divide
    Economic Times, June 10, 2020
    it is important to support the TSDSI is its endeavour of innovation for bridging the digital divide.
  • Why biodiversity conservation is necessary for dealing with the pandemic
    South Asia Monitor, June 05, 2020
    The theme for the World Environment Day 2020, which is observed on June 5 every year since 1972/74 is biodiversity, a concern that is both urgent and existential.
  • Huawei’s 5G trouble: A bitter pill that the world must swallow
    Deccan Chronicle, February 21, 2020
    Huawei, China’s biggest tech firm, and one of the world’s largest telecom equipment suppliers and phone manufacturers, seems to be breaking free from the shackles foisted on it by the United States.
  • Suresh Prabhu to Piyush Goyal: What’s the Way Forward for Trade and Industry?
    The Wire, June 02, 2019
    Piyush Goyal is aware that the trade portfolio is at the heart of the economy and a key part of creating jobs both in urban and rural areas.
  • US must work towards reviving 2+2 dialogue without any preconditions
    The Asian Age, July 11, 2018
    An oft-used phrase these days in international relations is “rules-based international order”.
  • Reuse, recycle for a cleaner, healthier India, and let’s cut use of plastics too
    Asian age, June 05, 2018
    Beat Plastic Pollution”, the theme for World Environment Day 2018, is a call for action and invites us all to consider how we can make changes in our everyday lives to reduce the heavy burden of plastic pollution on our cities, water bodies, forests and our own health.
  • Is America not a free country anymore?
    The Indian Economist, February 2, 2017
    After a year of election rhetoric by President Donald Trump on immigration has quickly put into action by signing executive orders, proving that he’ll stand on his controversial election promises.
  • The cult of india’s chief bankerInternational Affairs, July 7, 2016
    Raghuram Rajan finishes his three-year term as Reserve Bank of India Governor on 4 September but his exit will not be an ordinary one.
  • Proactive alert civil society needed to fight against child rape cases
    DNA, Jaipur, November, 30, 2015
    Ever since the tragic Nirbhaya episode hit the headlines, reportage of child rapes (and murders in many cases) have increased causing our blood to curdle.
  • To renew the civil services
    The Indian Express, July 22, 2015
    Many young IAS officers often fall prey to the incompetency of the framework.
  • Make in ‘digital’ India
    The Asian Age, June 01, 2015
    Snapdeal, Flipkart, Ola Cabs, Zomato and Hike are good for the economy as well as for consumers.
  • Rajasthan alone witnesses 12.8% deaths due to road accidents
    DNA, February 09, 2015
    Jaipur city continues to remain on top in terms of road accidents and deaths in the state and mishaps are also reported from other cities like Kota and Jodhpur.
  • Myanmar’s economy on a growth path
    The Asian Age, November 06, 2014
    Myanmar is now on the growth path with several countries providing aid and technical assistance.
  • Don’t carry on, doctor!
    The Hindu Business Line, January 17, 2014
    The nexus between the pharma industry and doctors needs to be broken. A doctor friend and his wife said that a pharma company had paid for their recent trip to Bali.
  • Healthcare industry is a rip-off
    The Hindu Business Line, July 02, 2012
    The absence of regulatory oversight in the health industry needs urgent attention.
  • Multi-level marketing – in need of cognate regulation?
    Times of India, December 30, 2011
    The country has been periodically rocked by scams of MLM companies and such frequent frauds indicate regulatory circumvention .
  • Making food subsidies work better
    Business Standard, July 31, 2011
    The ADB study showed that the deserving poor in India received only 10 percent of the benefits from the system.
  • We’re part of participatory democracyThe Economic Times, April 25, 2011
    Much has been written about the successful campaign by Anna Hazare in raising the ante on corruption and getting the government to agree on the participation of the civil society in drafting the Lokpal Bill.
  • Orchestrating development: The untapped promise of G-20
    The Economic Times, September 20, 2010, The News, Pakistan, September 19, 2010, The Financial Express, Bangladesh, September 17, 2010
    World leaders will gather in New York on September 20-22, 2010 to renew their pledge toward attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
  • Renewing our pledge to help poorest nations raise living standards
    Shanghai Daily, China, September 17, 2010
    World leaders will gather in New York on September 20-22, 2010 to renew their pledge toward attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
  • Tobin Tax: An idea whose time must not pass
    Financial Express, Bangladesh, July 25, 2010
    James Tobin’s suggestion of ‘throwing sands in the wheels of international finance’ by taxing currency trading has become a vociferously advocated initiative in the post crisis discourse on reformative regulation.
  • Ensuring food security for all
    The Economic Times, May 31, 2010
    The National Food Security Bill, 2010 that aims to provide subsidised foodgrain to the very poor is welcome, but its definition of ‘food security’ is too narrow. The architects of the food security bill have either forgotten the Rome declaration or ignored it.
  • A fortunate delay
    Financial Express, India, May 30, 2010, The News, Pakistan, May 30, 2010, Financial Express, Bangladesh, May 27, 2010
    THE US treasury report ostensibly aimed at decreeing China a currency manipulator, has not been released as was scheduled for the 15th of April this year.
  • Cop Flop: Civil society must step in
    Economic Times, December 21, 2009
    With the end of Copenhagen talks and delegates returning home nearly empty-handed, one can safely say that this much-touted summit was, alas, a failure.
  • Vouching for health vouchers
    The Financial Express, May 08, 2008
    The healthcare system in India is very complex and there is a clear rural-urban divide.
  • Desperate measures!
    The Economic Times, May 03, 2008
    The current inflation scenario is a global phenomenon, being spurred by a host of factors, such as escalating commodity prices and buoyant demand amidst slowdown in some countries.
  • How justified is public expenditure on government schools?
    The Hindu Business Line, June 03, 2008
    Parents who want good quality education for their children are often constrained by affordability and their wards continue to languish in government schools with the attendant problems.
  • Food crisis: The blame game
    Business Line, May 21, 2008
    The world food crisis, despite all efforts to shift the blame, has been born out of life-style imbalances in the US and like-minded nations, characterised by an excess of nutrition and locomotion.
  • Changing with times: Lateral entry into public services
    Economic Times, February 11, 2008
    Lateral entry can bring immaculate thinking and innovation, which are the basis for effective formulation and implementation of administrative reforms.
  • Etiquette: where do we stand?
    The Financial Express, November 24, 2007
    How can any country make progress with boorish behaviour fast becoming the norm? Our leaders do not even let out a whimper to tell people this awful behaviour should stop.
  • Can India become an EU member?
    The Hindu Business Line, India, February 24, 2007
    The European Union is a unique success story and thus many countries are queuing up to join it.
  • Ingenuity of dual-use
    The Hindu Business Line, January 03, 2007
    Whenever one talks about dual-use technology, hackles rise. For, it is a touchy subject, and has been so ever since India exploded a nuclear device the second time.
  • Runners vs travellers
    The Hindu Business Line, October 06, 2006
    After retirement, civil servants often find a sinecure. If they can in such positions take orders from juniors, then why the compunction about doing so when in regular service?
  • Food subsidy: How to reduce the bill
    The Hindu Business Line, August 05, 2005
    The food subsidy bill, consisting largely of farmer and consumer subsidies and support to the Food Corporation of India, has spiralled in the last ten years.
  • Bandung II: New hope for the poor?
    Daily Mirror, Colombo, May 23, 2005
    Leaders of 106 countries from Africa and Asia representing about three-fourths of humanity met in Indonesia in April to reinvigorate the spirit of 1995.
  • Partnering with greater accountability
    The Hindu Business Line, India, April 15, 2005
    Trilateral cooperation can be an effective way of bringing “appropriate intermediate technology” and “appropriate policy” to developing countries.
  • Crossed connections in open markets
    Business Standard, India, January 24, 2005
    The first WTO dispute on trade and competition in the telecom sector points to some dangers for smaller economic powers and has been reported rather scantily in the Indian media.
  • The Global Anti-globalisers
    The Economic Times, January 24, 2004
    Curtains have come down on the alternate stage, the World Social Forum. There was nothing much, which came out, though over a hundred thousand people from all over the world converged at Mumbai to look for an alternative to the existing world order.
  • Why Road Safety is the Casualty
    The Hindu Business Line, April 07, 2004
    Today, the World Health Day is being observed it with an extremely relevant theme: “Road Safety is No Accident”. In India, it is a continuing series of accidents. Therefore, policy-makers need to take a structured approach to building this component into road safety policies, and fast.
  • Press Note 18: A way out of imbroglio
    The Hindu Business Line, October 15, 2004
    The Government is keen to scrap Press Note 18 as it believes that it is restricting fresh FDI flows. Indeed, there is merit in this, and one needs to take a dispassionate view.
  • Right To Protest: At What Cost?
    The Hindu Business Line, December 29, 2003
    Two recent court judgements relating to the right to protest have resulted in a raging public debate in the country. While the average Indian has welcomed the judgements, political parties, by and large, are not comfortable with them.

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