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
A round-up of Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday.
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.
'You can disagree with Dr Ilaiah's analyses of how the caste-based economy works, or with his prescriptions on how to fix it.' 'But a disagreement that is couched in terms of 'offence' given and received shuts down the debate that is essential to build a more just and modern India,' argues Mihir Sharma.
India has remained obsessed with cheap capital and infrastructure spending when instead the central constraint on Indian development remains the abysmal quality of Indians' skills, says Mihir Sharma.
A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday.
In refusing to accept its failure, the government has sowed the seeds of further damage: by keeping India short of cash; reducing the headroom for responses to seasonal spikes in cash demand; and increasing the chances that groups will panic at temporary cash shortages, says Mihir Sharma.
'There has been far too much overconfidence about the size and composition of the Indian consumer economy,' notes Mihir S Sharma.
'The Union government has discouraged state and local governments from imposing restrictions on their own.' 'That advice should be withdrawn,' asserts Mihir S Sharma.
Unless public health is prioritised over swift re-opening, the chances are that a third wave will hit India sooner than we would like.
Weeks after the second wave peaked in many parts of the country, we are rapidly forgetting what happened to our hospitals, cautions Mihir S Sharma.
What do we know about India's devastating second wave, and can we assign responsibility for it?
Seamers put New Delhi in a commanding position as Ishant Sharma and Simarjeet Singh struck big blows against Hyderabad on Day 2 of their Ranji Trophy match. Here is a round-up of all the Ranji Trophy action on Day 2 on Thursday.
Who will make the most of the disruptions of 2016 this year? Mihir Sharma's list of probables.
'In the real economy, the scars of the pandemic will continue to define 2021.' 'It is still hard to tell the effect on unemployment, migrant workers, poverty, and the informal sector of the lockdown and of the pandemic,' observes Mihir S Sharma.
The sad truth is that the debt-to-GDP ratio will shoot up close to 90 per cent in the coming year, and the fiscal deficit glide path does not promise to reduce it substantially any time soon, predicts Mihir S Sharma.
Jammu and Kashmir made it to the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy despite suffering a two-wicket defeat at the hands of Haryana in their final Group C match in Jammu on Saturday. In the quarter-finals to be played from February 20 to 24, Saurashtra will be up against Andhra, Karnataka will face Jammu and Kashmir, Bengal will take on Odisha and Gujarat will square off against Goa.
'India resembles not just the more turbulent bits of its own past, but other 'managed' democracies, where all institutional strength and independence have been hollowed out to serve political power,' notes Mihir S Sharma.
We knew from the moment the pandemic took hold that this would be a long haul -- at least 12 to 18 months. Nothing should have changed that assessment, says Mihir S Sharma.
Devdutt Padikkal continued his terrific form ahead of the IPL with a third successive century as the defending champions stormed into the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinals
Nilanjana S Roy compiles a list of the most eagerly awaited books next year.
'As 1.3 billion people wait for our prime minister to tell us what to do and then vanish again from our television screens, it is worth noting that this is not how the rest of the world is being led,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Sunday.
Inflation has remained a major concern.
This is one of those crises where it does not only matter that you do something, but how you do it, suggests Mihir S Sharma.
The lockdown should have been used to drum into Indians' head the reasons for social distancing and the necessity for it, and the costs of not applying it in our daily lives and it should have been used to set up the systems that would manage large numbers of infected, observes Mihir S Sharma.
A roundup of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day matches played on Friday.
'Employees may well be expected to be on call at almost all times -- much like the standard Indian approach to the workday,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
What might be useful is targeted assistance to those sectors and individuals that are disproportionately affected, suggests Mihir S Sharma.
'There appears to be no end to the errors that our leaders are willing to commit and no risk they are unwilling to run,' notes Mihir S Sharma.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final matches played on Saturday.
The city is becoming more democratic as the past embraces the future says Rahul Jacob.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Friday.
'A unified Hindu votebank -- the creation of the largest and most reliable votebank in Indian politics, ever,' says Mihir S Sharma.
'Every strongman leader is faced with the same opportunity: Harness the increased societal panic to amass more power,' warns Mihir S Sharma.
As long as even one Indian holds aloft Ambedkar's portrait and recites the Preamble, the Republic remains alive, says Mihir S Sharma.
'India is not so distant from years of high and entrenched inflationary expectations that it should start trying to play games with the economy the way the West's central bankers think they are entitled to,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
Ashoke Pandit took to Facebook to slam Nihalani, saying Anushka Sharma's NH10 was a victim of his 'crass functioning'.
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