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.
Each year, at least 10 million Indians marry and the market is estimated at nearly $35 billion, growing at about 25 per cent annually.
'The notion of a single unarmed town challenging the might of the People's Republic is a little absurd,' says Mihir Sharma.
'A unified Hindu votebank -- the creation of the largest and most reliable votebank in Indian politics, ever,' says Mihir S Sharma.
In his book Restart, Mihir Sharma minces no words in pointing out that faulty policies, the lackadaisical attitude of bureaucrats and a few wrong decisions of past governments have hampered India's growth.
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.
'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.
Retired, former Test cricketer Dhoni was in the city for a commercial shoot with another former skipper Kapil Dev.
'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.
'If the BJP becomes the new Congress, then an Opposition within will naturally emerge -- from the right, not the left,' points out Mihir Sharma.
Zakia Jafri, the wife of former Congress member of Parliament whose protest petition against the Special Investigation Team's clean chit to Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat communal riots was on Thursday rejected by an Ahmedabad court, said she was not disheartened after the verdict and would appeal against it.
'They have a belief that they can go and win anywhere.'
Ashoke Pandit took to Facebook to slam Nihalani, saying Anushka Sharma's NH10 was a victim of his 'crass functioning'.
Can the newly-minted Jal Shakti ministry bring water to some 19 crore Indian households that have never had taps or heard the sound of flowing water, wonders Vinayak Chatterjee.
'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.
Mihir S Sharma gives us a rundown of what could happen, depending on the number.
'Fighting terrorists is one thing. Fighting insurgents is worse. Fighting a population is worst of all,' says 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.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Friday.
Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani was today appointed as the new censor board chairman along with nine other members, many of whom have a Bharatiya Janata Party connection, days after Leela Samson resigned as its chief alleging interference by the government in its matters.
The term of the members of the Planning Commission is co-terminus with the Prime Minister and they would be submitting their resignations once the new government is formed after the ongoing general elections next month.
'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.
'In 2014, he was a relatively unknown quantity, and benefited from the apparent difference that he brought to national politics.'
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.
'India may well be a religious country, but that is precisely why we need to avoid criminalising blasphemy,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
The court said that the petitioner can approach a higher court for further investigation in the case.
'The variables to watch include the monsoon, resolution of NBFC liquidity issues, GST collections, and NPA resolution.'
'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.
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.
'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.
'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.
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The growth has not been very robust in the first two financial years of the 12th Plan.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Sunday.
'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.
'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.
'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.
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.
'What is surprising is that the police press conference was based on letters (allegedly written by the activists).' 'Now those letters, according to the police, are yet to be verified by their (forensic) laboratory.' 'So, even the police is not sure that those letters are genuine.'
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.
