Seven rounds of trade talks between the EU and India have been concluded without any negotiating texts or positions of either party being made public. The widespread optimism about the possible signing of the India-European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) sometime in 2010 fails to take into account the many thorny issues that remain to be resolved. Not the least of them are the tariff negotiations on goods and...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Postmodern principles should form the foundation of JNNURM by Sameer Sharma
THE ongoing negotiations with the World Bank provide an opportunity to urban policymakers to reinvent the present form of JNNURM (called v1.0). Thus far JNNURM v1.0 has focused on upgrading macro-level dimensions of city’s environment, ignoring the social and economic diversity (e.g., mixed uses and building types) prevailing in urban areas. The top-down urban ‘renewal’ model underlying the present version of JNNURM is largely founded on the planning practices of...
More »Missed policy opportunity by Jayati Ghosh
Did we just miss a major opportunity? For short while, it seemed that the global financial crisis would focus minds on what is wrong with the current economic growth model and how we can go about changing it. Unfortunately, that moment seems to have passed, at least until the next crisis comes along (which, in current trends, will not be long, since all the major forces that led to the...
More »Surprisingly good news by Ashok V Desai
India’s growth is not falling, although it is not as high as before If there is a crisis, there should be economics to deal with it; what use are economists if they are not around to help out when things get bad? And it is not enough to have economics. There was plenty of economics in 1929. As output and employment plummeted, economists said, this is good. It will take...
More »CVC posts names of 123 ''corrupt'' officials on website
The Central Vigilance Commission has for the first time made public the names of 123 government officials against whom it had suggested prosecution or imposition of penalty for alleged corruption. The Commission earlier gave out only the numbers of officials, along with their departments, against whom it suggested prosecution and penalty proceedings in its monthly report. But for the first time, names have been posted on the CVC''s website. The...
More »