Bibek Debroy
The writer is chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the PM. Views are personal.
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
Thu, Apr 14, 2022
Bibek Debroy writes: Building an inventory of antiquities should be the first step
Fri, Mar 18, 2022
Bibek Debroy writes: Recent CAG report raises questions on land acquisition, process of allotment to builders, points to governance deficits
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
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
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
Fri, Nov 12, 2021
Bibek Debroy writes: Anyone interested in legal reform, including budding lawyers, should learn how to plug these gaps.
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.
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
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?
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.
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
Thu, May 13, 2021
Action not taken in the best of times now strikes back at us in the worst of times
Thu, Apr 15, 2021
Upon completion, it will be the world’s highest railway bridge
Thu, Mar 11, 2021
Indian manhole covers have a global market. But the Howrah-based foundries making them are in decline.
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.
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”.
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).
Thu, Dec 10, 2020
The only way we will ensure honey is genuine is through traceability and technology and digitisation makes this task easier.
Thu, Nov 12, 2020
Legal language in India is sometimes beyond understanding, often boring. George Orwell may have the solution.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.