We cannot simply have a 60-65 per cent import dependency in LPG, the bulk of which comes from just one volatile region -- West Asia, points out R Jagannathan.
Who else will take on the might of Microsoft, Google, and Amazon if not the Adanis, Ambanis, Birlas, or Tatas?, asks R Jagannathan.
When the technology gap between China and India will remain large, cost-effective hardware of the kind that proved their worth in Operation Sindoor should be our priority, points out R Jagannathan.
One must wonder whether Mr Modi's efforts to wine and dine the Big Two of today's world were seen as a sign of weakness rather than a proffered arm of friendship, points out R Jagannathan.
We must bring a laser focus on our own interests, and define our friends and foes more clearly instead of trying to live by somebody else's rules. We must grow up, think for ourselves, think India First, asserts R Jagannathan.
'The first and most basic responsibility of any government is to protect its people from external threats and internal harm.' 'Budget 2025-2026 has to focus on meeting this responsibility,' asserts R Jagannathan.
US's terrible political and economic leadership will ultimately cost the dollar its value. India must act early to avoid being dragged down, suggests R Jagannathan.
There is little doubt that the prime minister's own charisma exceeds that of his party, but 2024 is proof that no party can ultimately depend on one person to deliver victory all the time, points out R Jagannathan.
...Even if it means less democracy, so that their everyday problems get solved? argues R Jagannathan.
It is only the Indian approach of holding on to multiple realities and contradictory ideas simultaneously that is likely to deliver peace and progress. Binary logic is out of sync with reality, notes R Jagannathan.
Assuming we still have a Modi-led majority government after May 2024, there is no guarantee that reforms will move at anything more than a snail's pace, though we must be thankful even for that, notes R Jagannathan.
If Saudi Arabia, with just two Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, can create a huge tourism-based ecosystem beyond oil, Ayodhya is sure to become the world's hottest religious tourism site in less than a decade, predicts R Jagannathan.
Our caste warriors will not even ask these questions, let alone explore better solutions to address the problems of inequality and skewed life outcomes, argues R Jagannathan.
What is most troubling is that not a single party that is part of INDIA has talked about any kind of reform and economic sense, argues R Jagannathan.
India must evolve its own standards on how democracy must be ranked in a diverse and multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and pluralistic idea called India, suggests R Jagannathan.
The challenge is to enhance opportunities for people to generate livelihoods through entrepreneurship, both big and small, argues R Jagannathan.
Ultimately quotas kill talent and true meritocracy, argues R Jagannathan.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
The BJP is faced with the crucial question of who will lead the party in the four impending state polls this year: In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
There is an acute imbalance of power between the various organs of the State, including the executive, the legislature, the judiciary, and the ultimate sovereign -- the people, argues R Jagannathan.
The only real solution to the jobs crisis, whether in India or abroad, is to direct tech innovation towards job enhancing sectors, and disincentivising job-replacing ones, observes R Jagannathan.
Here's what could be ahead for India: A $10-trillion economy by 2030-32, a Sensex at 1,00,000 by 2025, monthly GST revenues at Rs 2 trillion by 2024-25, 100 new unicorns by 2025, and poverty below 5 per cent by 2030, predicts R Jagannathan.
While payments banks surely lose money, their operating ratios were looking better in 2017-18 compared to the year before. This implies that as customer volumes start picking up, the business models may perk up too, says R Jagannathan.
The use of RBI capital to strengthen public sector banks will have many positive implications for the economy -- and a few manageable downsides, points out R Jagannathan.
'This may be good news for Rahul Gandhi, for no matter how Modi performs, there will always be some degree of dissatisfaction with his performance among large sections of voters,' says R Jagannathan.
The judgment in the 2G case is a huge, huge, indictment of the criminal investigation and justice system, says R Jagannathan.
'Economically, if there are too many losers, macro-demand will suffer and undercut growth.' 'In more developed societies, the issue is resolved through the provision of safety nets, which don't exist in India.' points out T N Ninan.
When the Indian economy tanked in 1991, it did so because it ran out of foreign exchange. Today, it is tanking because it has run out of rupees even as the foreign exchange granary is overflowing, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Farm loan waivers should not be regarded as expenditure but as incentive and investment, argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Modi is not being consistent with his past record of caution.' 'Has something changed in the way Modi does things?'
BJP's overwhelming win in UP shows that 2014 was no fluke, says R Jagannathan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has managed to pull off what was unimaginable a year back -- adopting a much-needed centre-left approach, says Devanik Saha.
Indrajit Gupta believes the edit team was forced out because it had become more vocal in demanding ESOPs that were expressly promised in their appointment letters in 2008.
'I got to know the men accused of the blasts regularly meeting them in court and jail. Some of them, like Dutt, are back in jail. Others, like Mohammed Jindran, a quiet and well spoken middle class man, were killed. And now of course Yakub is ready to be hanged. The first in the case to do so,' says Aakar Patel.
The narrow win in Gujarat can be contributed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his no-holds-barred approach and party president Amit Shah who plays to win and knows that there are rules to be followed when suited and broken when needed.
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