'If deterrence through India's conventional superiority is to be established now, then India will have to escalate to a point where its greater resources make the difference.' 'This is, to put it mildly, both difficult and dangerous and thus inadvisable,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
Railways caused the biggest upset in this Ranji Trophy season so far, after they defeated domestic giants Mumbai by 10 wickets within three days in their Elite Group B match, in Mumbai, on Friday. Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan (5-60) took five wickets, as Mumbai were bundled out for 198 in their second essay at the Wankhede Stadium, after India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane failed miserably in the second innings as well.
'That would be ridiculous and uncharacteristic of the PM.' 'It is also not how things happen in illiberal States.' 'In such places, lower-level functionaries of every rank and hue seek to ingratiate themselves with the highest authority by going pell-mell after dissenters and outsiders,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
'The Post's coverage is not an authentic public discourse guided by unbiased Western intellectuals, but a slanted doomsday propaganda orchestrated by Indians and expatriate Indians,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
The Congress will only survive if it can transform into something more like the BJP used to be: A coalition of strong state leaders held together by shared ideology or personal loyalty, suggests Mihir S Sharma.
In the other matches, Manipur trounced Nagaland by 10 wickets in the battle of newcomers while Jammu and Kashmir defeated Andhra Pradesh by five wickets.
For Duflo and Banerjee, an important part of their work has been ensuring that the agency of the "beneficiaries" -- usually, in developing countries like India, poorer individuals -- is put at the centre of any policy design. This is a crucial way in which experimental results are often better than large scale data-based inference, says Mihir S Sharma.
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
'The government has to stop trying to fix things for lenders, projects, homeowners and developers and think instead about how to fix the market for houses,' says Mihir S Sharma.
Young pacer Tushar Deshpande recorded his career-best figures of six for 70 to help Mumbai earn a sizeable first innings lead against Railways on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group A encounter in New Delhi on Saturday.
'They have a belief that they can go and win anywhere.'
'If such inflows materialise, what will be the effect on the rupee's value -- and therefore on exports growth, the only sustainable path to recovery?', asks Mihir S Sharma.
Karnataka pacer Abhimanyu Mithun picked a five-wicket haul in their Group B match against UP. While Delhi's Ricky Bhui put his team in a good position against Andhra. A round-up of Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Wednesday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Friday
Chahal, who has been an automatic choice in the limited overs format has not played any first-class cricket since December 2016 (against Haryana in Ranji Trophy), but the Indian team management and especially skipper Virat Kohli has indicated that he wants the wiry leg-spinner for five-day matches also.
'He is wily and has everything that a political leader needs to succeed at that level.' 'He would be outstanding as a counter to Modi in the Lok Sabha, if he had the Opposition benches behind him,' says Aakar Patel.
'Fighting terrorists is one thing. Fighting insurgents is worse. Fighting a population is worst of all,' says Mihir S Sharma.
Courtesy Jadeja's knock, Saurashtra lead Railways by 144 runs after they ended the Day 2 at 344/8.
Mihir S Sharma gives us a rundown of what could happen, depending on the number.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday.
'India may well be a religious country, but that is precisely why we need to avoid criminalising blasphemy,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
'The oddest thing about this general election campaign so far is that one might think that the BJP was fighting with its back to the wall, rather than as the favourite to win.' 'Perhaps there is something they know that we don't,' says Mihir S Sharma.
While GST and insolvency laws are among the major achievements of the Modi government, the list of failures include demonetisation, toxic banks, manufacturing hiccups and most prominently bizarre job creation figures. Mihir S Sharma takes a look at the four years of Modi government.
Karun Nair returned to form with a patient hundred as Karnataka set a stiff target of 380 for Hyderabad on the third day of their Group 'A' Ranji Trophy encounter.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Saturday.
'Anyone on Indian Twitter, Facebook, or any of the other forms of social media that matter (except elite forums like Instagram) understands instantly that it is dominated by upper-caste North Indian men.' 'Other voices are silenced and attacked,' says Mihir S Sharma.
'The entire swathe of Internet trolls -- who now apparently serve as the ideological brains-trust of the BJP -- would have looked at each other in puzzlement, thinking: What kind of warning is that?' says Mihir S Sharma.
A blast in New Jaipaiguri in West Bengal has killed four persons and injured seven. The police and the Intelligence Bureau are suspecting the involvement of the dreaded Inter-Services Intelligence funded, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation. The powerful bomb was planted on a cycle.
'As long as the government owns the banks, bankers will follow signals from politicians as to how to lend.' 'State-owned banks will remain State-owned banks as long as the current dispensation is in power -- and certainly there will be no change if the other chaps get in,' says Mihir S Sharma.
If I were the BJP, I would not be celebrating quite so quickly. It can sweep its heartland in 2014, as it has shown it can do, but that heartland isn't quite big enough. And it can put up a good fight in towns and cities, too - but unless it neutralises AAP or similar political entrepreneurs, it may find itself tantalisingly short, just as has happened to it in Delhi, says Mihir Sharma.
'When the clouds lift and the mists clear, when saner heads and minds sit down to parse the outcome, they will find that the Congress was not lacking in either fight or spirit,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Having ensured three points by virtue of 104-run first innings lead by the end of the third day, Mumbai decided against sporting declaration reaching 321 for 5 when captains decided to call time.
'Ask a beat journalist their opinion, and you will always be told that they are more worried about writing something that would upset a company than something that would anger a politician,' says Mihir S Sharma.
Hiten Dalal scored a brisk 79 on debut before Himachal Pradesh fought back to reduce Delhi to 305 for eight at stumps on day one of a Group B Ranji Trophy match, in New Delhi, on Monday.
Contrary to the bragging that marked its two-year anniversary, the government's timidity on reform is simply astounding.
The expectation that Mr Modi would be a major reformer, capable of reinvigorating the Indian economy, were based on a complete misreading of both his actions and his performance as Gujarat chief minister, says Mihir S Sharma.
Karnataka inflicted an innings and 20 runs defeat on Mumbai with more than a day to spare in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final in Nagpur on Sunday to move into the semi-finals in convincing fashion.
'Bureaucrats have transformed a project meant to empower the poorest Indians into one that empowers only babus and disempowers everyone else,' says Mihir S Sharma.
'It is clear that economic policy and reform under this administration will always be afterthoughts, something to be carried out only when no other political concern intervenes -- when, in other words, the government feels safe and comfortable enough to take a moderate risk,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
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