Arun Maira

Maira, a former member of the Planning Commission, is the author of Listening for Well-Being: Conversations with People Not Like Us

Arun Maira writes: Evidence from around the world is that the economic policy paradigm of first increasing the overall size of the pie by reducing taxes at the top and then ‘redistributing’ the wealth has not delivered benefits to people.

Solution cannot be found in systems that caused the climate emergency

Wed, Nov 17, 2021

Arun Maira writes: As the disappointing outcome of COP26 shows, a more equitable and sustainable world needs new institutional arrangements for its governance.

Why the citizens’ assembly is an idea whose time has come

Wed, Aug 25, 2021

Arun Maira writes: Building a middle layer of institutions for democratic deliberations amongst citizens has become essential for democratic governance.

Ashoka University episode reveals clash between principles of capitalism and democracy

Thu, Apr 08, 2021

Good governance and profit runs into democratic values in private educational institutions. India and the world must invent new forms of world-class institutions that can bridge this fault line.

The fundamental reform India needs is the process of listening to other perspectives

Sat, Jan 23, 2021

Democratic governance is breaking down because no one is willing to listen to people they don’t understand or agree with.

Govt’s dismissal of farmers’ concerns reduces quality of policies, makes them harder to implement

Fri, Dec 11, 2020

Market reformers must clean up their ideological lenses and see the reality of where power lies in markets. As Barbara Harriss-White, a scholar of India’s agricultural markets once observed, “deregulated imperfect markets may become more, not less, imperfect than regulated imperfect markets.”

Post-Covid world must find ways to reduce distorting power of global capital

Wed, Oct 28, 2020

The way the rules of the economy and trade are made must change to create a more just and resilient world. Voices of the poorest people and their associations must be heard more loudly than the opinions of the rich and their lobbies.

During pandemic, we must keep older people engaged, not isolate them

Wed, Aug 26, 2020

We need “social cohesion”, not “social distancing”, in communities, and in humanity as a whole, to fight this pandemic and also improve human well-being.

Lessons from Covid, China: India needs a new paradigm for trade, industry, and development

Wed, Jul 15, 2020

It is needed not only to strengthen India vis-à-vis China, but to make the economy good for India’s poorer citizens too.

In post-Covid world, growth of business must not be at expense of societal well-being

Fri, Jun 26, 2020

The lockdowns following COVID-19 have caused many people to introspect about the purposes of their lives, and the purposes of the enterprises they serve. It has also provided an opportunity to reset the course of economies.

Workers, and those who speak for them, must be heard on labour laws

Fri, May 22, 2020

India must remain a democracy. Workers, and those who speak on their behalf, must be heard while framing or changing regulations. Their voices must not be silenced by ordinances.

Post-COVID economic models, rules of governance, must be bottom-up, not top-down

Wed, Apr 29, 2020

Recovery from COVID-19 is an opportunity to create economies that are more resilient and fair. Three architectural principles must apply.

It would be wise for countries to maintain sufficient ‘economic distancing’ amongst themselves

Thu, Mar 26, 2020

Governments should mind the health of their own economies. Thereby, they will improve the health of the global economy too.

Hearing those unlike us is essential for the health of our society and nation

Wed, Jan 01, 2020

Let us reach out to a citizen of our country who is “not like us”. Let’s listen to who she or he really is. Let’s start a national listening movement. And lead the world to an International Listening Day.