Opinion

Saeed Naqvi Pictures of unrelieved despair everywhere on TV and, that too, in the course of an extended house arrest (lockdown), does leave one, to use Faiz’s words, with “pain where the heart once was”. Heaven knows there were problems then too; but in these...

Jayati Ghosh Students in introductory macroeconomics courses typically used to learn about the paradox of thrift. This theory, popularized by John Maynard Keynes, states that if households decide to save more and consume less during a slowdown or recession (because of uncertainty about future income),...

Sudha Devi Nayak All letters are memorials, personal epistles, where we are privy to the thoughts and emotions of the writer; and impersonal, where they celebrate history and culture. Here, we have a selection by the acclaimed historian, Simon Sebag Montefiore, from ancient to modern...

Bharat Jhunjhunwala The national economy is faced with serious odds. The forecasts for GDP growth in the present year range from (+) 1.2 per cent to (-) 11 per cent. UN has forecast (+) 1.2 per cent growth; Bloomberg has forecast (-) 0.4 per cent...

Shivaji Sarkar If wishes were horses, the ‘one India one farm market’ concept would have flown under then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee 20 years ago. This time round, the Narendra Modi government’s move is good, but it’s not going to be easy. The changes...

Brahma Chellaney Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "not in a good mood," US President Donald Trump recently declared as he offered to mediate India's resurgent border conflict with China. After years of bending over backward to appease China, Modi has received yet another Chinese encroachment on...

Charudutta Panigrahi Unlike GDP, IQ is not comprehensive – the GDP of human development and IQ of intellectualism. In the last 100 years, the general IQ of the humanity is said to have increased by about 30 points – about three points every decade. Compared...

Melvin Durai The other day, my neighbour told me something I already knew: he was getting ready to sell his home. How did I know this? Well, for the last few weeks, I've seen workers repairing the home and improving the landscaping. I've also seen junk...

Bhala Chandra Shadangi In these difficult times, the Central government is pushing its neo-liberal policies in agriculture. The three ordinances promulgated in the name of safeguarding the interests of farmers and the agriculture sector are basically a triple murder of peasants, farm labourers and consumers...

Ajit Ranade The pandemic and the lockdown have deeply hurt the economy. This year, the world’s economy will shrink by three per cent, something that we have not witnessed in our lifetime. India’s economy too may shrink as much. During April, more than 120 million...