How the row over ‘freebies’ hides India’s failure to meet the basic needs of its citizens
While it targets welfare schemes, the Union government has also written off crores in outstanding loans for India’s rich and given huge corporate tax rebates.
A NITI Aayog-Commissioned Report Unveils the Hypocrisy of Modi Govt’s ‘Climate Concerns’
The report seems to only focus on guilt tripping the judiciary by mechanistically enumerating immediate economic losses owing to the stalling and closures effected by rulings. It is symptomatic of the urge of the...
Lies, Despair and a Grotesque Inequality Plagues Indian Economy Today
We witnessed an infantile jubilance on the part of the government since last year about a “record recovery” from the pandemic. Finance Ministry’s report claimed that armed with necessary macro and micro growth drivers, India...
More Privatisation, less Accountability- How did the Indian Economy fare last month?
In pursuance of its policy of monetisation of national assets, the government earlier this month approved the setting up of the National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC). It would be a government-owned company with the...
Sanctions on Russia: Political Economy of Sanctions & the Fallout
The Russian belligerence and the unfolding war has led to an immense humanitarian crisis and the sanctions, while purportedly aimed at hurting the government of the aggressor, also have the potential of causing immense...
National Monetization Pipeline: A Critical Evaluation
In August 2021 the NDA government unveiled its grand design to put chunks of the nation’s public assets on lease for private profits. The plan has been named the National Monetization Pipeline, the idea...
Behind the ABG Shipyard fraud, a system that lets big firms gamble with savings of ordinary people
As the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday registered a case of money laundering against Gujarat-based ABG Shipyard based on the complaint of the State Bank of India, the company has been described as being involved in “India’s biggest...
Who stands to gain if LIC bleeds?
In her last budget speech in 2021, the Finance Minister declared the government's disinvestment plans for the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Already, amendments to the LIC Act have been made to set...
Faced with grotesque inequality, what can we learn from Chile?
“Chile was the birthplace of neoliberalism, and it shall also be its grave!” said Gabriel Boric, a young student leader from the radical fold who was forged in the protests that has rocked Chile...
What lies at the end of this pipeline?
Disinvestment entails the government selling an asset, in part or full. By the term “monetization” the government is claiming to retain ownership while offering the asset to private players for investment and operationalization. The...