-The Economic Times     There is a narrative that the UPA's rule at the Centre led to an economic disaster, especially in the second term. In contrast, Gujarat has prospered, thanks to Narendra Modi's good governance. We have several problems with this. First, through UPA's first term and about halfway into its second, many economic indicators critics like to harp on were much better than those during the NDA days. This is true...

-Economic and Political Weekly This article challenges the prevailing view that the diminished electoral prospects of the United Progressive Alliance government is the result of neglecting growth to launch populist welfare schemes. It looks at a wide range of economic indicators to argue that compared to the National Democratic Alliance regime, the UPA period has been characterised by faster growth, higher savings and investment, growing foreign trade and capital infl ows,...

-The Business Standard   The Indian economy certainly has problems. But compared to the rest of the world, we will take ours any day Over the past couple of years, and particularly the past few months, we have become convinced that economists, the intelligentsia, fund managers, foreign brokers, don't read global macroeconomic news. All of the above have castigated the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for having ruined the economy, causing a massive growth...

-The Hindu Why does Gujarat have indifferent social indicators, in spite of having enjoyed runaway economic growth and relatively high standards of governance? Gujarat's development achievements are moderate, largely predate Narendra Modi, and have as much to do with public action as with economic growth. As the nation heads for the polling booths in the numbing hot winds of April, objective facts and rational enquiry are taking a holiday and the public relations...

-The Hindu   Ideological labels are likely to mislead by channelling the debate into issues of capitalism and socialism and detract from the real problem George Santayana said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Having forgotten the license-permit-quota-raj that enveloped us from 1950 to 1980 and its ‘crony socialism,' many intellectuals, mediapersons and politicians have now discovered ‘crony capitalism.' The license raj consisted of stifling controls imposed on...