Meghnad Desai loves to cook, watch and write about old Bollywood movies and shuttles between London, Delhi and Goa. He pursues controversies on economics, history and anything else which catches his attention. He is also a British parliamentarian sitting in the House of Lords. He has written over 25 books, over 200 articles in learned journals and hundreds of newspaper columns in UK and India.
It is the right and duty of citizens to reclaim their original freedoms as it is more than unlikely that governments of any political party which benefit from their power over citizens will renounce their privilege.
Sun, Jul 26, 2020Nothing will be done to prevent it. Neither by the push me-pull you Rahul Gandhi nor by the longest serving Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Sun, Jul 19, 2020Nehru was prime minister already before the 1952 election. His record of 17 years at the top is unlikely to be equalled by anyone. Not that Modi could not win a fourth election but Modi abides by Sangh Parivar discipline and will retire when he is 75 in 2025.
Sun, Jul 12, 2020The Hong Kong Treaty was like Article 370. It was designed for international display. Now that the time has come, China has torn it up. The timing is important not just because China is more powerful.
Sun, Jul 05, 2020In every country, the hospital facilities proved inadequate. The poor of all ages and races suffered. They will stay that way... Relax.
Sun, Jun 28, 2020The Chinese feel that two centuries since the Opium war signalled its decline, it is now a powerful nation. It wants to be on top, the Middle Earth — as it believes it was. India never was a single Empire; not even the Mughals ruled over all of it.
Sun, Jun 21, 2020Over his lifetime, Gandhi suffered a lot of abuse and even after his death, 72 years ago, the criticism has not stopped.
Sun, Jun 14, 2020Socialism in India has never looked after the poorer workers in the private informal sector. They are the overwhelming majority, but they do not count.
Sun, Jun 07, 2020Meghnad Desai writes: This time the China-India confrontation will not be an isolated affair with India friendless as in 1962. It will be part of a global (hopefully) Cold War.
Sun, May 31, 2020Encourage local industries or work from home to harness women’s energy. The shramik has waited long enough. They deserve better.
Mon, May 25, 2020Modi has a spectacular second victory to his credit with a larger majority. He has nothing to fear from the Congress which has inflicted injury on itself.
Sun, May 17, 2020The Centre is asymmetrically more powerful as it can impose curfew on any and every state. It also has much greater capacity to raise money despite the many Finance Commissions which have tried to devolve more revenue in a formulaic way.
Sun, May 10, 2020Over the last 70-plus years, India has frittered chances to become a centre of manufacturing on the scale of other Asian countries.
Sun, May 03, 2020The metros are the weak links against the pandemic. While the chain from the Centre to state to panchayat is clear and backed by money flowing down, the municipalities are in an anomalous position.
Sun, Apr 26, 2020The coronavirus pandemic has exposed many weaknesses but the most noticeable is the plight of working people in the informal sector in urban areas, particularly metros, who are normally employed but with precarious livelihoods.
Sat, Apr 18, 2020So far the number of deaths in India has remained small. There seems to be a wave of self-congratulations.
Sun, Apr 12, 2020Without exception, every leader has been caught unprepared. China took days to realise and then publicly admit that Wuhan had coronavirus infection.
Sun, Apr 05, 2020The poor cannot afford social distancing. If they cannot work in the metros, they have to flee to their rural homes.
Sun, Mar 29, 2020It is interesting that the nomination of former chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha has raised doubts about the independence of the judiciary.
Sun, Mar 22, 2020The question now is why are Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tiwari, Gaurav Gogoi, Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot still wasting away in the Congress when all they can look forward to is Priyanka Vadra taking over since her brother does not fancy the job for which he was never elected.
Mon, Mar 16, 2020There are attempts to impose a single monistic structure on it but we can see the limitations of doing so. India is many, not one.
Sun, Mar 08, 2020One thing is clear. Delhi cannot go on having a dual government. Make it a state so the Chief Minister can take charge of security. The Central government is too remote.
Sun, Mar 01, 2020If India is to be one of the richest nations, it has to fashion trade deals. Modi may yet be the prime minister who liberates the Indian economy from its old shackles of protectionism and makes it as large and nearly as prosperous as the US economy. He can if he uses his friend Donald Trump well.
Wed, Feb 26, 2020India is a civilisation. It does not need a single story of its Nationhood. India is large enough to accommodate many stories of Nationhood. Indeed each linguistic region has its own story of Nationhood. That is its strength. The task is to weave these multiple regional stories into a rich garland that is India.
Sun, Feb 23, 2020Arvind Kejriwal ran an astute campaign for Delhi elections which did not allow the BJP to distract voters from the solid achievements of the Aam Aadmi Party in delivering public services. He did not fight PM Narendra Modi on the CAA, and treated it as irrelevant for Delhi polls.
Sun, Feb 16, 2020