Modinomics = Corporatonomics: Part I Ever since the Congress released its manifesto promising to implement a scheme, NYAY, under which it would guarantee a transfer of Rs 72,000 per year or Rs 6,000 per month to the poorest 20% of India’s households, the BJP has gone to town claiming that the scheme is not practical,…
Modinomics = Falsonomics: Part I Prime Minister Modi has often claimed that the Indian economy during the past five years of his rule has transformed from one of world’s most fragile economies to the fastest growing economy in the world. Echoing him, the Finance Minister claimed in his 2019 budget speech: “We are the fastest…
Survival of the Richest: All Are Equal, Except Those Who Aren’t Like a gilded coating that makes the dullest things glitter, today’s thin veneer of political populism covers a grotesque underbelly of growing inequality that’s hiding in plain sight. And this phenomenon of ever more concentrated wealth and power has both Newtonian and Darwinian components…
Unorganised Sector: Falling Fortunes The pressure-cooker manufacturer Prestige reported soaring profits last year, as did its primary rivals in the cookware market. But the good news for these companies came with bad news for the economy. The chairperson of Prestige told The Hindu that increased profits had come hand in hand with a fall in…
With what author and activist Naomi Klein calls “galloping momentum,” the “Green New Deal” promoted by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., appears to be forging a political pathway for solving all of the ills of US society and the planet in one fell swoop. Her plan would give a select committee of the US House of…
13% Decline in Public Sector Workers in 4 Years of Modi Rule Nearly 2 lakh workers of government-run public enterprises have lost their jobs since the Narendra Modi led BJP government took power in 2014. The total number of workers declined from about 12.9 lakh in 2014 to 10.9 lakh in 2018. Including the managerial…
Neo-Liberalism and the Diffusion of Development The level of economic activity under capitalism is subject to prolonged ebbs and flows. When the economy is on an upswing, this very fact acts as an elixir that emboldens capitalists, who begin to expect that the “good times” are going to continue; this makes them less worried about…
New GDP Series and Its Assumptions Controversy over the growth performance of the Indian economy took another turn with The Indian Express breaking the story about Niti Aayog not allowing the back series to be announced three years back because it showed a higher growth rate during the UPA regime. The suspicion that the new…
Manifesto of Indian Farmers Adopted by an assembly representing the farmers of India on the occasion of the historic Kisan Mukti March organised by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, Delhi, 30 November 2018. We, The Farmers of India, The producers of primary agricultural commodities; including women, dalit, nomadic and adivasi farmers;…
Fact Check: Spin-Master Jaitley’s Claims on Demonetisation Flying in the face of his own Prime Minister’s statements, the Reserve Bank of India’s notifications and all manner of evidence, Finance Minister Jaitley has made the astounding claim that the demonetisation of November 8, 2016 was not about confiscation of cash but was the means to achieve…
दिल्लीत सुरु असलेल्या शेतकरी आंदोलनाच्या पार्श्वभूमीवर या लहान पुस्तिकेचे प्रकाशन लोकायत मार्फत करण्यात आले आहे. शेतकरी आंदोलन आणि त्यातल्या मागण्या या केवळ शेतकऱ्यांपुरत्याच नसून विविध अंगांनी सर्व सामान्य जनतेच्या हिताच्या आहेत, याबाबत मांडणी करणारी ही पुस्तिका!