It is indeed heartening to note that most states have been growing remarkably fast, going by the Central Statistical Organisation’s (CSO) current data on the economic growth of states over the last decade. Even chronically poor states such as Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan and, more anaemically, Uttar Pradesh have participated in the boom, sending out a clear message that no state can be written off. One can argue that GDP alone...

Referring to China in 1947, Nehru declared, “A new star has risen in the eastern horizon,” and some years later predicted, “If you peer into the future, the obvious fourth country in the world is India.” One of the countries he had in mind has disappeared, and he did not imagine that the emergence of India and China on the global stage would lead to mutual friction. The Chinese are...

India needs to initiate a number of steps to manage the emerging situation.  After three consecutive good years, agricultural production has faltered in the last two years. There was a fall in production to the tune of 1.6 per cent in 2008-2009 compared to the previous year. This year, again, agricultural production is likely to be down by 2 per cent or more. The deceleration in the growth of foodgrain...

The near total political paralysis of one of India's largest states, Andhra Pradesh, over its proposed carve-up, raises fresh questions about how the world's largest democracy will handle questions of identity and territory in this young century. Telangana, the new state proposed, is not a fresh demand, but even as it seems closer than ever to materialising, it opens a Pandora's box in a vast country of over a billion...

There has been uproar in southern India's Andhra Pradesh assembly in protest against the government's decision to create a new state. Lawmakers have shouted slogans against the decision to carve out a new state of Telangana in its north. An estimated 35 million people will live in the new state, Telangana. Separately, a four-day strike called by a regional political party demanding a separate state has begun in India's tea-producing Darjeeling...