Category Public Finances and Macroeconomics

Macaulay

Macaulay and English Education: Where PM Modi’s Account Falls Short

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets it wrong on Macaulay. Give the devil his due. His introduction of English language education in India is one of the good things colonialism did for India. It paved the way for Indians to enter the world of modern knowledge, to savour the fruits of the scientific revolution that swept across Europe and turned the world of scholarship upside down in the 16th and 17th centuries, and for the oppressed castes of India to enter the world of learning, from which Indian tradition had excluded them, and for the enrichment and growth of India’s regional languages and cultures. English education introduced Indians to the concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity, totally alien to monarchy and the caste system.

Presidential

Presidential Reference: Why the Supreme Court’s Response Falls Short

The Supreme Court’s reply to the Presidential reference is a big letdown. The Constitution Bench’s task was to ascertain if the Court can prescribe timelines for Governors and the President to decide on a Bill that comes up before them, and whether the conduct of Governors and the President is justiciable.

Ontario

Did an Ontario TV Ad Jeopardize India’s US Trade Deal?

Has the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, eroded the chances of a trade deal between India and the US, with his apology to the US President over a television spot that a Canadian state government recently ran on US networks? The probability is strong that he has, even if purely inadvertently.

Unions

It’s Time for Unions to Work the Talk

The four labour codes long in the making have finally been notified. The good thing is that a legal framework now exists for a company inclined to provide social security for the gig workers it employs to actually provide it. Uber, for example, says it has been waiting for such a legal framework. Any labour law is only as good as its enforcement. Where workers and their unions are strong enough to compel enforcement, laws are complied with.

Trump

Trump 2.0: Recalibrating Indo–US Relations

The election of Donald Trump and the emergence of his "America First" ideology represents a significant challenge to the Post world war II liberal international order and its underlying premise that a rules-based global system benefits U.S. interests in the long run. Trump's "America First" approach, characterized by a mix of economic isolationism and an interventionist military and political strategy under constrained resources, created significant strategic unpredictability in global affairs.

AT1

Reconsidering the Impact: Why the Swiss Court’s AT1 Ruling Has Limited Relevance for the YES Bank Case

A ruling by the Swiss Federal Administrative Court on October 14, holding as illegal the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority’s decision to write down Credit Suisse’s Additional Tier 1 bonds, as part of the state-directed merger of troubled Credit Suisse into rival banking giant UBS, has revived hopes in India for those pursuing a case in the Supreme Court against the similar writing down of AT1 bonds issued by Yes Bank, as part of its salvage operation. Their optimism is misplaced.

Bihar elections 2025

The Uncounted Loss: How Bihar’s Fate Was Sealed Before Polling Day

The Bihar results were out even before polling began: Bihar has lost, whoever the victor in the Assembly elections. With well over one crore women being paid Rs 10,000 crore by the incumbent government, supposedly for self-employment ventures, and promises of future fiscal support for such enterprises, the political economy of state handouts had been entrenched before polling began.

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