The writer, a former Union minister, is an economist.

March 25,2003 00:00:00 AM
At Kyoto’s World Water Forum last week, there was considerable sympathy for a movement away from statist centralised solutions with emp...
Tue, Mar 25, 2003
March 11,2003 00:00:00 AM
There have been a set of recent studies on India 2020. One by the Planning Commission, the other by the United Nations. The first is called ...
Tue, Mar 11, 2003
February 25,2003 00:00:00 AM
Like many Indians I have been disturbed by the serious events that have taken place in Gujarat, but also by the perception of Gujarat in Ind...
Tue, Feb 25, 2003
February 11,2003 00:00:00 AM
The quadrilateral road project is one of the more important things that has happened in independent India. Perhaps encouraged by that, it is...
Tue, Feb 11, 2003
January 28,2003 00:00:00 AM
Think of the typical farmer in eastern India. He is more likely than not to be hard-working — and poor. He produces paddy in the monsoo...
Tue, Jan 28, 2003
January 14,2003 00:00:00 AM
The removal of poverty in India depends crucially on widespread agricultural and rural growth. Growing a low-yield cereal, leaves the margin...
Tue, Jan 14, 2003
December 31,2002 00:00:00 AM
Although there is much good news on the economic front in 2002, the urgent mainstreaming of Krishi Bhavan’s agendas on agriculture and ...
Tue, Dec 31, 2002
December 17,2002 00:00:00 AM
Although its been a bad year for the world, India is a bright spot. On a trip to the Far East, I find a mild recognition of India. The Far E...
Tue, Dec 17, 2002
December 03,2002 00:00:00 AM
Several new trends are emerging in Indian agriculture. These include water management technologies, techniques of crop husbandry and the met...
Tue, Dec 03, 2002
November 19,2002 00:00:00 AM
The Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) called a meeting to discuss the methodology of price determination, attended by forme...
Tue, Nov 19, 2002
November 05,2002 00:00:00 AM
This country lives at different levels. At one level, you have farmers selling flowers at a hundred and fifty rupees a piece,, as also those...
Tue, Nov 05, 2002
October 22,2002 00:00:00 AM
With abuse, intimidation and slander uncontestedly setting the limits of public discourse, debates on economic policy are giving way to pers...
Tue, Oct 22, 2002
October 08,2002 00:00:00 AM
The finalisation of the Tenth Plan by the Planning Commission should be an occasion to generate ‘feel good’ sentiments after Aksha...
Tue, Oct 08, 2002
September 24,2002 00:00:00 AM
A friend running an NGO in Rajasthan spoke of work with the Adivasis in south Rajasthan and so I went to the area bordering Dungarpur and So...
Tue, Sep 24, 2002
September 10,2002 00:00:00 AM
The Johannesburg Summit has ended. Because it was business-like, there was little serious comment in India, although the issues are of great...
Tue, Sep 10, 2002
August 27,2002 00:00:00 AM
Two events last week were milestones. A national magazine reported an All-India survey. In the recesses of the minds of a billion Indians li...
Tue, Aug 27, 2002
August 13,2002 00:00:00 AM
The village of Pattan Kadoli is 21 km from Kolhapur. It has the kind of infrastructure that most villages in well-run states and districts h...
Tue, Aug 13, 2002
July 31,2002 00:00:00 AM
The excitement the Human Development Report generates is good. A cursory visit to an Indian village shows the importance of good health. The...
Wed, Jul 31, 2002
July 16,2002 00:00:00 AM
While the Indian economy need no longer be a gamble on the monsoon, the failure of rainfall is in the news again. As I write this, the meteo...
Tue, Jul 16, 2002
July 09,2002 00:00:00 AM
The Salt Range, where I was born, is on the same longitude as rural Ahmedabad where I now live but, in terms of latitude, it is on the same ...
Tue, Jul 09, 2002
June 25,2002 00:00:00 AM
A friend told me that I mislead readers because I only go to the best areas and report from there. When I was 36 years old — that was 2...
Tue, Jun 25, 2002
June 11,2002 00:00:00 AM
The Companies (Second Amendment) Bill 2001 has become law, according to a newspaper report. In its somewhat staid style, the Rajya Sabha Sec...
Tue, Jun 11, 2002
May 28,2002 00:00:00 AM
One of the most difficult issues to explain to an Indian farmer is the fertiliser conundrum. He feels cheated. Having gone to a village for ...
Tue, May 28, 2002
May 14,2002 00:00:00 AM
Technology day has just gone by and a grateful nation salutes those who work to provide India with its true security and growth. Scientists ...
Tue, May 14, 2002
April 30,2002 00:00:00 AM
Travelling down from Chittorgarh to Ahmedabad a few months ago we saw the agriculture regime in eastern Gujarat changing with the farmer res...
Tue, Apr 30, 2002



