Shyam Ponappa: What a highway can do
Even as the country reels from the extended rains and the imminent Commonwealth Games, there are unmistakable signs in Delhi’s environs of an unprecedented transformation. To see and feel this, try driving to the Delhi-Noida toll bridge (the “DND”), and go past Noida on the expressway to Greater Noida. It isn’t perfect, and there are [...]
Sunita Narain: In poverty and in wealth
There I was, zipping down a bustling Ahmedabad in a bus. The bus stopped at a station, designed so that the doors of the bus and the station open simultaneously to let passengers out and in. People were walking to the station, buying tickets and waiting. A notice flashed when the next bus would arrive. Each bus has a GPS device that transmits its [...]
Policyspeak and television
Indian politicians need tutoring in addressing TV audiences. Almost no Indian political leader has yet adapted to the medium of television. We either have politicians with poor public speaking skills or those who think histrionics substitute for public speaking. In fact finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and railway minister Mamata Banerjee were [...]
Sudipto Mundle: Fuelling The Growth Story
Barring the histrionics of a strident opposition increasingly lost in the wilderness, virtually all sections have welcomed the budget. All sections, that is, of the visible and vocal minority. As for the silent majority, they are well silent, but more on that later. The BSE stock price index went up 300 points even before the finance minister [...]
‘Price rise inevitable’ – adding salt to the wounds
The President's Address makes the startling statement that “higher prices were inevitable.” This makes it clear that the United Progressive Alliance government has no intention of a course correction in the policies that have resulted in continuing high rates of inflation of food items, which reached almost 18 per cent (Wholesale Price Index) [...]
Looming Deadline
The clock is ticking. With less than 230 days or just under eight months left for the Commonwealth Games to begin, New Delhi resembles a war zone. There is construction underway on most major roads and half-built flyovers dot the city. To the casual observer it looks like most projects are a long way from completion. Indeed, a senior official of [...]
China challenges Obama’s Taliban plan
U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan to reconcile with the Taliban in Afghanistan ought to win him a second Nobel, although during the entire period between 1901 and 2009, a Peace Prize was never awarded twice to any of its 97 individual recipients. An exception of course can be made. From a historical perspective, if the Obama plan advances, [...]
In defence of rickshaw pullers
In 2005, West Bengal’s government decided hand- pulled rickshaws in Kolkata were a pitiful “sight”, and decided to outlaw them. Pitiful or not, rickshaw pullers were up in arms, since the government was robbing them of their livelihood. But this was hardly the first time governments have hurt the urban poor—street vendors, rickshaw [...]
Free the roads
The Delhi high court gave two contrasting rulings this week. One was welcome, giving directions for setting up a task force that will focus on reducing congestion and pollution levels in the city. However, a congestion fee, as suggested by the court, may not be the best way to achieve this in the absence of alternative measures which enable people [...]
Sanjeev Sanyal: Can Mumbai be our Global Champion?
To whom does Mumbai belong? This is a question that has simmered for years and has now blown up into a major national controversy. For Mumbai, it is a question that is fundamental to its very existence as India’s pre-eminent financial, commercial and cultural hub. At a time that India is re-emerging as a major player on the world stage, its [...]