The Forex Bonanza
On 16 July 2021 India’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $612.7 billion. That was almost 30 per cent higher than its level of $475.6 billion at the end of March 2020, when the effects of the pandemic began to be…
The Neoliberal Reforms of 1991 didn’t Work as Claimed
There is a common trope, fed especially to generations born after 1991, that economic progress and modernization in India really occurred only after ‘liberalizing’ economic reforms were introduced three decades ago. This is a travesty of the truth. Certainly, conditions…
Vaccines: Europe will regret privileging profits over people
For a while this spring, it seemed – at least to European residents – that the vaccine nationalism that had led European governments to procure vaccines that had been rapidly produced with government support and fast-tracked official approval, had paid…
Is emerging Asia in retreat?
International observers still view Asia and particularly East Asia as the most dynamic economic region in the world, a perception that has been even more entrenched over the period of the pandemic. Certainly, if aggregate GDP growth rates in real…
The G7’s Tax Reform could entrench Global Inequality
The tax proposal decided at the G7 Finance Ministers’ meeting last weekend has been hailed as ‘historic’ and ‘transformative’. But in its present form, it is, unfortunately, neither. Major changes can and should be made — at least by the…
A Non-performing Code for Bad Debt
In mid-June, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved a resolution plan for the Rs. 35,000 crore non-performing debt of Videocon Industries. The plan was a successful offer made by Twin Star Technologies, a Vedanta group company, and accepted by…
The Impasse in External Debt Relief
When the pandemic first swept across the globe and destroyed economies in its wake, there were at least some expressions of international solidarity among leaders of the rich countries. External debt problems were widely recognised to be inevitable in the…
The Inadequate Food Safety Net
With India experiencing a severe second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing decentralized lockdowns, a crisis of loss of jobs and livelihoods and resulting hunger is being reported from across the country. A reluctant central government has, therefore, been forced…
The Hunger Pandemic
The disease ripping through the country is only one of the destructive forces affecting the lives of hundreds of millions of Indians. The dramatic increase in hunger is another. Like devastation wrought by the current surge in coronavirus infections, this…
Next Steps for a People’s Vaccine
The Biden administration’s decision to stop opposing a proposed COVID-19 waiver of certain intellectual-property rights under World Trade Organization rules is a welcome move. But ending the pandemic also requires scaling up knowledge and technology transfer, as well as public…