Politicians need to wake up. Many of them have functioned as though they were above the law -- and indeed they were. But things have changed -- substantially, not wholly, notes T N Ninan.
'The border stand-off and the uncertainties that come with it should be a wake-up call on what makes for real rather than illusory power,' observes T N Ninan.
The coal scandal began with revelations about the Manmohan Singh government, then expanded in scope to take in the Vajpayee government, and has now become a sweeping saga that lays bare the contemporary Indian state.
The last three prime ministers who served full terms started out in their early 70s. Mr Modi is younger and fitter than all of them. But he needs to find it in him to change course if he is to beat the odds, notes T N Ninan.
'This encourages escapism through the politics and economics of nationalism, made worse by tribalism or nativism, the package accompanied inevitably by the erosion of institutional bulwarks and therefore State capture by powerful businessmen,' notes T N Ninan.
The reason why corruption charges are designed to do reputation damage more than anything else is that such charges are rarely brought to closure, points out T N Ninan
This has been a season for corporate scandal.
'There appears to be no relation between a government with a majority and GDP growth as the stock market and its analysts seem to fear.'
When he speaks of them, it is either in denial or to highlight successes that are only part of a larger story that is worrisome in its totality, observes T N Ninan.
The answer to the problems of high inflation and slowing growth, and low farm incomes, would lie in addressing the basic reforms that India is still to attempt -- like labour laws, says T N Ninan.
Opening up India's market to neighbouring countries can be as strategic as access denial to others. The game should be played both ways, even if it upsets domestic business lobbies, observes T N Ninan.
More than merely being an economic balancing act, this was also about walking the political tightrope.
Only a leader with sufficient moral authority with voters can pull off such experiments, notes T N Ninan.
The government may have to resort, eventually and however unwillingly, to printing money, abandoned as policy and practice in the 1990, predicts T N Ninan.
Nothing that Sten Lindstrom says now is new, says T N Ninan
When Sten Lindstrom, who led the investigation in Sweden, says there was no evidence that Rajiv took the money, he is saying something established long ago, says T N Ninan
By way of illustration, there have been increasingly frequent reports in the press of proposals for India to provide special funds to support overseas investments by public sector resource firms so as to ensure security of supply for key minerals and fuels.
'With English the most rapidly growing medium of instruction in India's schools and accounting now for more than one-sixth of the total (next only to Hindi, which accounts for a half), India is not about to turn its face away from a language that has global currency,' notes T N Ninan.<
To snatch a state government out of Congress hands is therefore a high-stakes game with national political implications, for it denies the party the essential fuel to run effective election campaigns, notes T N Ninan.
Anvita Telang, 11, wins the Doodle for Google contest 2016 and her doodle is on the search engine's home page today, November 14.
Condoling the death of veteran investigative reporter J Dey in Mumbai, the Editors Guild of India on Saturday urged the Maharashtra government to take immediate steps to ensure that the killers are brought to justice."The Editors Guild deplores the law enforcement agencies' inability to protect the life of a journalist engaged in carrying out his professional duties at great risk to himself," Guild president T N Ninan and Secretary Coomi Kapoor said in a statement.
If the government can get even a minimalist agenda going while improving its management of infrastructure, and if the Reserve Bank of India can cut interest rates quickly, the Indian script for 2012 could change.
'Manmohan Singh's fond hope of avoiding conflict over territory by 'making borders irrelevant' is increasingly difficult to realise in a world where institutional restraints on aggression are weakening and the new game in town is unalloyed power play,' notes T N Ninan.
"You can't please all people. And the finance minister has done as good a job as was possible," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an interview with T N Ninan, editorial director and chairman of Business Standard Ltd, on Monday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the Budget proposals in Parliament.
"You can't please all people. And the finance minister has done as good a job as was possible," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an interview with T N Ninan, editorial director and chairman of Business Standard Ltd, on Monday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the Budget proposals in Parliament.
'Anyone can string together a few alliterative words, but are they a substitute for serious thought?' 'And do they make for a strategy or plan for coherent action?' asks T N Ninan.
When emerging from this crisis, the govt must consider a fresh approach to reviving growth, revisiting the Centre-state fiscal balance, and devising a re-imagined GST 2.0, suggests T N Ninan.
India did not create the problem. But if it had a better functioning government system, it would have been able to deal with it at lower cost to its citizens, explains T N Ninan.
Dhirubhai may or may not have owned the government; it would seem his son wants to own the market, notes T N Ninan.
Among the handful of countries with large defence budgets and armed forces, India is matched only by Saudi Arabia in the level of its import dependence. For revenge to be served cold, go beyond import bans and correct these long-term failures -- if we're up to it, notes T N Ninan.
'The new trains should be fast, but the roll-out of the privatisation plan should be slow and well-considered,' recommends T N Ninan.
'Rahul Gandhi's recent video performances offer little hope - the first fell flat in attacking government 'strategy'; the second showed him in a position unbecoming of a leader,' argues T N Ninan.
Will people buy as many cars as before if more office-goers are working from home? How much existing office space in commercial buildings will become surplus, and what will that mean for the construction industry, asks T N Ninan.
T N Ninan writes on how the United States is handling the BP oil spill disaster and what India needed to do in the horrific Bhopal gas tragedy.
'This is not without risk because extraordinary steps taken in exceptional times have the habit of becoming habits until the next crisis intervenes,' warns T N Ninan.
The proliferating flyovers, eyesores every one of them, merely redistribute traffic to new choke points.
'Now Mr Modi has been offered a more real but different kind of war, which he has likened to the Mahabharat,' notes T N Ninan.
Given the financial support and the makeover that Delhi is getting for the Commonwealth Games, Delhiites should not crib about some hike in tax, says T N Ninan.
'We may have moved back three decades on the fiscal situation,' notes T N Ninan.
The position of director is more than the sinecure that all too many retired executives seek out because of the fees, car, and the opportunity to feel important, says T N Ninan.
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