A Massive Bureaucracy with No Accountability

“The reason for non-utilization is shocking and scandalous. The entire state does not possess a single rifle which can fire this ammunition. The ammunition is used in medium machineguns (generally used by the military), it is not used by any police…

Socialism, State and Corruption (Minoo Masani, 1990)

With the Panama papers leak this week, corruption and black money are back in the news. Here is what M R Masani had to say on tackling corruption back in 1990. The piece had been taken from ‘Masani at 90’, a series of Masani’s essays that…

APF Study on School Closure: Questionable Quality & Reckless Claims

A recent study by Azim Premji Foundation (APF) titled “Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009 and Private School Closure in India” has received wide media coverage and ignited debate over the impact of RTE on private…

4 Ways to Think about Sedition and JNU

The happenings in JNU in the last couple of months have sparked a remarkable dialogue in our country. I can think of no other instance in recent times that has invoked such passion and sparked the kind of debate we are having right now. This nation is far from a…

Speaking to the Poor (C Rajagopalachari, 1965)

The following piece was written by C Rajagopalachari in 1965, and was published in the Swatantra Party Souvenir.

The Congress Party’s daily assertion is that it is deeply concerned about the welfare of the poorer section of…

Some Reflections from a Trip to Bharat

Two Indias co-exist in our nation today.

One that a lot of us reading this blog live in, and call India. The other, one which we know of but have often not heard or seen, which I will now refer to as Bharat.

A Surge of Woes

I guess John Kay nails it (although this is in a slightly different context). ”Regulation should seek to work with market forces, not to replace them. Not because free markets lead to the best of all possible worlds — in financial services, as in many other activities, they plainly do not. But it is…