Pragmatism and flexibility is a virtue. An untethered and short-term approach to policymaking is a flaw, argues Mihir S Sharma.
'Stan's death is the culmination of a series of acts of abominable cruelty on the part of the Indian State.'
The finance minister must reverse the government's turn to statism, and lay out a reformist vision in the Budget.
Modi's government has proceeded in a manner exactly predictable from his claims and promises on the campaign trail.
It is unfair to expect Mr Jaitley to perform miracles with the Centre's straitened finances.
The extraordinary thing about UP is that, quietly, there has been an enormous improvement in the quality of roads.
A handsome victory for the BJP in UP would act as confirmation of its recent political choices. The UP chief minister would be cemented in the popular mind as Mr Modi's chosen heir within the Hindutva fold, and presumably as his successor in New Delhi, observes Mihir S Sharma.
We are entering 2022, facing another infectious variant, with much the same baseless confidence, notes Mihir S Sharma.
The economic logic - and political reasons - behind the giant shift of spending power to the states
The Indian State does not believe in the rule of law. It does not even recognise the need to follow treaties that it itself signed. And so it is refusing to shell out to Cairn; and, as a consequence, has brought on the Paris humiliation, notes Mihir S Sharma.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for the United States in a blaze of optimism. The trip ended with an unrelieved gloom, says Mihir S Sharma
If the government had paid enough to begin with, or if it had made serious advance purchase commitments that allowed the vaccine producers to mobilise necessary investment, then it is possible to imagine more free or subsidised vaccines such as are available in developed economies, asserts Mihir S Sharma.
'I would have expected that, once firmly ensconced in the director's chair by 2:15 am, the not-director of the CBI would have called for pen and paper and hand-written a few clean chits.' 'Clean chits over Rafale; clean chits to the PM's secretary in the coal bribery case; a clean chit to Hasmukh Adhia on whatever claim Subramanian Swamy has cooked up about him...' says Mihir Sharma.
This is not the general election 'semi-final'. The element of anti-Congress sentiment is important, but not crucial. In at least three of the four states, the swing has mostly been caused by localised factors, says Mihir S Sharma
The fall in exports is a product of poor policy from the RBI and laziness from the Centre.
More than any other party, the BJP can figure out exactly what is likely to infuriate and mobilise their core voter, says Mihir S Sharma
India will either have to create a system in which certain geographical areas will wind up being permanent political outsiders at the Union level or it will have to create a system in which certain votes are weighted more heavily than others, observes Mihir S Sharma.
We're told; that the economy went up in flames demonstrates our uniquely poor performance. Never in the appalling annals of political-economic punditry in India have so many people been so wrong simultaneously.
Not only has the Sensex swung wildly in the interim, staying below 10,000 for months in late 2008, but the market's winning stocks have changed in composition and character.
If the PM had just chosen to behave as if there wasn't anything wrong about existing systems, he wouldn't have been in such trouble today, says Mihir S Sharma
2012 marked the shift of the news media becoming the story rather than reporting it, says Mihir S Sharma
A round-up of Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday.
Of all the many arguments in Indian politics that are stupid, hypocritical and wrong -- and there are many -- the one exculpating Modi because of 1984 is the most dangerous, says Mihir S Sharma
Surjit Bhalla believes that RBI is the only central bank in the world that formed its monetary policy on the basis of the current account deficit. He also feels that the Chidambaram proposed women's bank in Budget to impress Sonia Gandhi.
Mihir S Sharma asks a few questions on l'affaire Vadra, and makes notes on who should answer them and why
With every passing year, India gets younger and younger and so expectations will be voiced more loudly, writes Mihir S Sharma
Into his 10 year, Manmohan Singh is struggling to retrieve his legacy -- thanks to bad luck, a bad situation and at least two very bad calls, says Mihir S Sharma
In the absence of responsibility from the mainstream media, the darkest sections of the internet will begin to sound increasingly plausible to the angry and disconnected, says Mihir S Sharma.
'This is the era of images; no speech that Mukherjee could have given could counter the sight of a senior Congressman, elevated by the party to Rashtrapati Bhavan, standing rigidly next to the RSS gerontocracy as those worthies delivered the organisation's faux-fascist salute,' says Mihir Sharma.
Capital punishment brings the state, the highest invention of humanity, down to the level of the barbarity it is supposed to rise above, says Mihir S Sharma
What sets Modi apart from the BJP's other successful CMs is that a whiff of the smoke of 2002 still clings to his clothing, notes Mihir S Sharma.
That is not the sort of country many of us are happy to live in but we never gave another sort of country a chance, says Mihir S Sharma
Everyone feels that they have to compromise on their values due to greed of others.
The Gandhis have much to answer for. In particular, their hands-off political style, an attempt to create an above-the-fray demeanour, writes Mihir S Sharma
Government is tougher than the private sector -- but transformative, says UPA's highly visible ex-CEO.
If either failure of comprehension stays uncorrected, 2012 will be a singularly disastrous year, says Mihir S Sharma.
In all our discussions of quotas and reservations and affirmative action, we need to remember that they aren't just for the disadvantaged. They are for all of us, says Mihir S Sharma
As befits India's largest and most complex state, the UP assembly elections will be as transformative as a Lok Sabha election
Clearly, Rahul Gandhi has shown himself unable to pick the right people, and unable to pick the right issues, opines Mihir S Sharma
It's been 10 years since the Godhra carnage and Narendra Modi is still around and divisive. Why, precisely, should the world think that the man who presided over India's worst governance failure in decades is somehow a role model for efficiency, asks Mihir S Sharma.
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