Bibek Debroy

The writer is chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the PM. Views are personal.

The good cop

Thu, May 12, 2022

Bibek Debroy writes: It's time to nudge states towards implementing measures for police reform directed by the Supreme Court in its landmark Prakash Singh verdict

Solving India’s idol theft problem

Thu, Apr 14, 2022

Bibek Debroy writes: Building an inventory of antiquities should be the first step

Throwing light on governance failure in Noida

Fri, Mar 18, 2022

Bibek Debroy writes: Recent CAG report raises questions on land acquisition, process of allotment to builders, points to governance deficits

What three recent cases say about our labyrinthine legal system

Thu, Feb 10, 2022

Bibek Debroy writes: Archaic laws, incomprehensible language and cases that go on for too long are obstacles on the path to justice

How the Seventh Schedule affects delivery of public goods

Thu, Jan 13, 2022

🔴 Bibek Debroy writes: Without delegation of funds, functions and functionaries, local governments are unable to respond to pressure from citizens who demand greater efficiency in this matter

Fear of numbers, letters and other irrational phobias

Fri, Dec 10, 2021

🔴 Bibek Debroy writes: As the naming of the Omicron variant and other examples show, it is not just 13 that is affected by the universal tendency towards discretion in using numbers as markers

How loopholes in Civil Procedure Code delay justice

Fri, Nov 12, 2021

Bibek Debroy writes: Anyone interested in legal reform, including budding lawyers, should learn how to plug these gaps.

Why and how is Devi celebrated during the Navaratri festivities?

Fri, Oct 15, 2021

Bibek Debroy writes: Devi worship is an ancient tradition in India, with different parts of the country honouring different forms of the deity.

Book review: Fun encounters of economist Shankar Acharya

Sun, Sep 12, 2021

From being offered Apu’s role in Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali to filling slightly inebriated Raj Kapoor’s glass, the former chief economic adviser’s autobiography, ‘An Economist at Home and Abroad’, is replete with humorous anecdotes and courteous professional observations

Lessons from Ricky Martin’s tax travails in India

Fri, Sep 10, 2021

Bibek Debroy writes: If delayed tax payments by tax-payers automatically invoke interest, shouldn’t delayed refunds also automatically invoke interest payments? What about the alacrity with which the department implements orders of appellate forums?

Getting all Indians tap water may be desirable. But what’s really needed is safe drinking water

Thu, Jul 22, 2021

Bibek Debroy writes: There’s no denying India’s water crisis, which can only be addressed with accurate data, big picture reforms.

On reforms and public expenditures, let’s not forget to scrutinise states

Thu, Jun 10, 2021

Bibek Debroy writes: There’s been an excessive focus on the Union government. The availability of data from state legislatures is an opportunity to monitor them better

Black marketing during the pandemic comes from longstanding, systemic flaws

Thu, May 13, 2021

Action not taken in the best of times now strikes back at us in the worst of times

Chenab bridge: A future icon of Indian Railways heritage

Thu, Apr 15, 2021

Upon completion, it will be the world’s highest railway bridge

The case of the disappearing manhole cover

Thu, Mar 11, 2021

Indian manhole covers have a global market. But the Howrah-based foundries making them are in decline.

National Rail Plan maps existing railway network on a GIS platform, identifies gaps

Thu, Feb 11, 2021

These are places where one needs new tracks and investments. Historically, such decisions were often driven by political considerations and were ad hoc. NRP bases those decisions on objective criteria.

Need to control prices of certain commodities is historically contingent

Fri, Jan 22, 2021

Bibek Debroy writes: Before liberalisation, there were around 80 Union government-level orders and around 150 state government-level orders decreeing various items as “essential”.

There are challenges in Covid vaccination drive, but these are not intractable

Thu, Jan 14, 2021

The problems in carrying out vaccination on this massive scale are apparent, but not intractable. States should be prepared for adverse events following immunisation (AEFI).

It may be necessary to formalise apiculture to disincentivise adulteration in honey

Thu, Dec 10, 2020

The only way we will ensure honey is genuine is through traceability and technology and digitisation makes this task easier.

Legal language in India is filled with jargon

Thu, Nov 12, 2020

Legal language in India is sometimes beyond understanding, often boring. George Orwell may have the solution.

The insider’s view

Sat, Nov 07, 2020

NK Singh’s anecdotal account of his eventful career in policymaking is laced with self-deprecating humour and an insight into India’s economic history.

Indian agriculture has changed since Green Revolution. Reform is about giving farmers choice

Mon, Sep 28, 2020

With realistic input costs, that form of agriculture is no longer viable in those Green Revolution tracts. Farmers, and governments, in Bihar and Kerala, don’t want APMCs, nor do UP, MP, Gujarat and Karnataka.

The NEP reboot: Mother tongue versus English isn’t the real issue

Thu, Sep 10, 2020

Bibek Debroy writes: The home language/mother tongue versus English isn’t the real issue. The real issue is the amnesia about our history, roots, culture, legacy and language and the production of interpreters and clerks. That is what NEP seeks to reboot.

Who needs an MPhil anyway? The degree was meant to act as a filter for PhD candidates. It has become an exit option

Fri, Aug 14, 2020

Across a wide range of disciplines, PhD enrolments are invariably more than MPhil, yet another pointer that the MPhil degree was anything but a filter. It was an exit option.

India’s trade agreement with China was one-sided to begin with

Thu, Jul 09, 2020

If you scrutinise the schedules, you will find non-manufacturing items in China’s miscellaneous list, but many manufactured items in India’s miscellaneous list (light engineering, plastic manufactures, cement, agricultural implements, paper). By any yardstick, the 1954 agreement was one-sided.