-The Telegraph The obsession with economic growth and the stock market hides other important facts about the condition of the economy Every time quarterly or monthly reports of the Indian economy are announced there is a reaction in the media. If the results are worse than the previous ones, then impending doom is forecast. If the results are better than the previous ones, there is unbridled optimism about future economic prospects. Both...

-The Indian Express Exploring the role of the black economy in political finance and how it subverts democracy. Book: Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India Editors: Devesh Kapur & Milan Vaishnav Publisher: Oxford University Press Page: 311   Price: Rs 750 Money in politics is an issue of great concern for the Indian polity. Most believe it undermines democracy in India so that what formally looks like a great democracy turns out to be just...

-National Herald Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at London School of Economics, in an interview to Tathagata Bhattacharya says the government has failed on many counts At the end of the day, it is growth and employment generation via new investment that is key to long-term economic progress. Various welfare schemes are a way of providing a social safety net to the poor in the short-run. It is performance along these two...

-Hindustan Times The key to this problem lies in the way political and electoral financing are conducted in this country The stranglehold of political parties on the electoral and political system continues to increase with time. The anti-defection law, passed in 1985, formalised the control of political parties even on Parliament. Despite a large number of candidates on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), the candidates with a realistic chance of getting elected...

-Newsclick.in Electoral bonds are neither 'transparent' nor 'anonymous'. In the latest revelation, file notings of the Election Commission of India (ECI) have showed that it had decided against uploading a letter – which talked about its reservations regarding the Finance Act, 2017 and introduction of the electoral bonds – on their website. The notings have been disclosed through a response to an application under the Right to Information Act (RTI) filed by...