'There is merit in appointing people with ability and energy, then leaving them to do the job.' 'The Modi government would have had a better record if it had stuck to this formula from the beginning,' argues T N Ninan.
If Mr Modi and his team expect to win the 2019 elections, groundwork for improved performance in their second term should be done now.
'Every Finance Commission creates its winners and losers' point out T N Ninan.
'We have here the world's largest economy and dominant superpower thrashing about as it wrestles with its own decline.' 'It has become everything that China was supposed to be: A threat to the world order, and as a country that is not playing by the rules on trade, on climate change, international commitments and nuclear deals,' says T N Ninan.
'There is economic danger: Not inflation, but a slowdown that feeds an employment crisis,' says T N Ninan.
'The one sector where there is still a sense of crisis is banking, but the government has regrettably set its face against privatising any of the government-owned banks,' says T N Ninan.
'If the Opposition believes the BJP is out to undermine the principles on which the Constitution rests, they had better start behaving as though they believe in those principles,' says T N Ninan.
'The only credible explanation for the niggardly approach to defence expenditure must be that the government does not expect a war.' 'But wars can happen when you don't expect them, and re-arming at the last minute is not possible,' says T N Ninan.
'The two-word answer is: Proper oversight,' says T N Ninan.
'You have to hand it to Mukesh for sheer daring.' 'Who else in India would have sunk a stupendous $30 billion in a business that was yet to get a single customer?' 'With that, the older of the Ambani siblings has shown that he is in a class of his own,' says T N Ninan.
'The Chinese have taken to telling their Indian interlocutors to bear in mind the 5:1 disparity in the sizes of the two economies.' 'The message from Beijing, says T N Ninan, is clear: Acknowledge superior Chinese power, and behave accordingly.'
'The estimates of tax forgone on this item run into hundreds of billions.' 'And there is neither fairness nor rationality to support continuing with this tax holiday for just one class of investors, those who put their money in shares,' says T N Ninan.
'While investors in Reliance have had to play a game of patience for long stretches, for Anil the challenge is to do what used to be his brother's forte -- generating cash by putting assets in the ground and making things,' says T N Ninan.
'At least three top bureaucrats have been declared guilty in recent years in connection with scams where they had no pecuniary benefit.' 'But in the telecom case, a money trail is declared irrelevant because no scam has been proved in the first place.' 'Fair enough; so we must punish illegality without criminality, but ignore possible criminality as suggestive of illegality,' points out T N Ninan.
The shift from 'one country, one tax' to four tax rates could dilute possible gains on GDP, warns T N Ninan.
If Modi wants to be a man of history, he must make hard choices that will pay off down the road, says T N Ninan.
There is merit in considering whether merchandise exports can be facilitated by halting if not reversing the rupee's appreciation, says T N Ninan.
A more effective promotion of domestic manufacturing and mining could significantly reduce the trade deficit in key sectors, says T N Ninan.
While India's human development index has improved, absolute performance levels aren't satisfactory, says T N Ninan.
While good news from several quarters has been trickling in, El Nino might be a dampener, says T N Ninan.
The Modi government's record on governance is better than that of UPA-2, but not better than UPA-1, observes T N Ninan.
A new study shows that the bottom half of the population enjoyed only 15 per cent of national income in 2013-14, down sharply from 24 per cent in the early 1980s.
The city needs some autonomy, or it will continue to decline in all the ways that are familiar, observes T N Ninan
With the Congress already opposed to the proposed law, regional parties might become the swing factor, says T N Ninan.
'The disruptions caused by demonetisation and GST will be behind us in another six months.' 'That should give growth a bounce; some coming quarters could well report 7-plus per cent growth.' 'But can that rebound be sustained, or will it be like the bounce of a dead cat?' asks T N Ninan.
'The entire government-owned banking system (excluding SBI) is now in the red.' 'But worse is to come,' warns T N Ninan.
'The government's full five-year term is unlikely to deliver more than 7+ per cent growth.' 'That's creditable, but no different from the 7.2 per cent achieved in the previous five years (2009 to 2014).' 'Those who expected the change of government to deliver a change of tempo would be disappointed,' says T N Ninan.
'These trends put at risk not only minorities or the media or some other out-of-favour group, they can and do concern everyone,' warns T N Ninan.
'While people complain of the difficulties they are experiencing because of the lack of currency, they remain supportive so far of Mr Modi's initiative.' 'What the country should be concerned about is the prospect of a prime minister who is willing to sacrifice economic gain and risk large-scale job losses in exchange for personal popularity,'
Columnist T N Ninan wonders when there is real progress to talk about, why our ministers make exaggerated claims.
'While the GST is structured to be an all-encompassing tax and to create a vastly expanded digital network of recorded transactions, no one knows how traders long used to avoiding taxes will apply their ingenuity,' says T N Ninan.
'Either China is building regional transport infrastructure long before it needs it, or this is in a chain of Chinese investments with more strategic than economic intent,' says T N Ninan.
'Somehow, I don't see the Modi government shutting down Air India.' 'So, Mallya may prove to be luckier than the government; at least his financial clock has stopped ticking,' says T N Ninan.
'Does the country risk being enclosed in a geographical cocoon if it spurns a multi-continent project for which everyone else has signed up,' asks T N Ninan.
What the railways need to do is to establish a clear link between higher fares and better service, says T N Ninan.
Our governments are easily prone to arbitrary decisions but if you are dealing with international firms, such arbitrariness can turn back and bite you, says T N Ninan.
The Aditya Birla group's decision to merge two companies, each with an existing clutch of diverse businesses, flies in the face of the accumulated wisdom regarding conglomerates, says T N Ninan.
The key reason for the country's stagnating exports is its failure to build a strong manufacturing base, says T N Ninan.
'One wishes that today's 'take no prisoners' brand of politics would give way to an understanding of the national interest that is shared by both government and Opposition.'
'If we don't want to be the poorest large economy even in 2030, we need to be doing very much more than is being attempted.'
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