Category Insights

Insights, a blog published by IMPRI.

Detriments of the Old Pension Scheme

Whichever way one looks at it, the promise by select state governments and political parties to return to the Old Pension System for Government employees is a freebie of the kind that Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to as Revadi. It is not affordable. It is not targeted at the deserving. It is not productive. It creates a terrible precedent. It ought to carry the following “health” warnings: disastrous for state finances, additional liabilities for future taxpayers and detrimental to the economic well-being of the majority.

Congress at Crossroads: Challenges & Responses

Under Rahul Gandhi’s inspired leadership, the Congress has officially entered the Zombie zone, turning itself into the living dead. The party has retaken Himachal Pradesh and some Muslim-dominated wards in Delhi. It is winning a by-election in Chhattisgarh, as well. Sure, these signs of life matter.

Inflation: The End of Nigh

China will exit Zero Covid and freezing Europe will force Ukraine to sue for peace.
In Europe, where anger against high prices has triggered political upheavals, leading to the mainstreaming of right-wing politics in Italy, Sweden, and France, strikes for higher wages that promise to entrench inflation and depress growth, and persistent demands for fuel subsidies. This spells the beginning of the end of the war in Ukraine.

Premiership Conundrum in China Amidst Protests & Party Crisis

The protests have spread to over 25 cities and over 80 universities, totaling over 50 since the last week of November when nearly a dozen residents were charred to death at Urumqi in Xinjiang in a locked-down high-rise building that caught fire. China witnessed “mass incidents” periodically after the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989. According to official estimates, over 5500 such incidents were reported in 1991, rising continuously to over 87,000 in 2005 and to 1,80,000 in 2010. However, China’s Premier has discontinued providing such statistics anymore.

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