Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

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Distinguished visiting professor, 
National INstitute of Public Finance and Policy

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economic growth

After the success of G20 and the moon mission, the country needs a few vital course corrections to pave the way to an advanced nation by 2047

India's incredible year

Business Standard

Poverty

Persisting challenges in nutrition, education and sanitation in many districts underscore the need for a bottom-up effort to eradicate deprivation

Poverty declines, but battle not over

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India USA flags

America-India partnership stands poised to reshape the world's dynamics if both sides play their cards right

AI: A friendship whose time has come

Indian economy, economic slowdown

India must build stronger institutions and a more inclusive growth strategy to avoid falling into the middle-income trap

Pathways to a Viksit Bharat

Logistics

The focus of the government to improve our logistics is bearing fruit, but this is a battle that must be fought continuously and smartly

Logistics makes the world go around

Illustration

To make India an advanced economy by 2047, devolving more power to local governments is crucial, and the 16th Finance Commission can play a pivotal role in this regard

Bring government closer to people

IMF, International Monetary Fund

It is not a central player today as the world deals with inflation and financial instability and countries hurtle towards debt crisis. It must be revamped and strengthened to play that role

Where in the world is the IMF?

Ajay Banga, its proposed new chief, must steer the bank into becoming a global institution for climate change and sustainability instead of just another multipurpose development bank

Opportunity for reforms at World Bank

Fiscal consolidation is needed if India is to seek sustainable private sector-led growth

Opportunities and choices in the Budget

ease of doing business, companies, economy, policy, reforms

Business index rankings have become a substitute for addressing the fundamental constraints faced by entrepreneurs

Ease vs cost of doing business in India

Reforms

Building state capability is not an easy process, especially in a democratic setup

India's Interventionist State: Bolster govt capability, reform management

India’s interventionist state: Reduce its scope, increase capability

Govt is increasingly keen to deliver even specific items like toilets, water, gas cylinders, where it can show the beneficiary immediate results. This new welfarism helps win polls but not development

India's interventionist state: Reduce its scope, increase capability

technology, big data, jobs, employment, work

India's rankings on global competitiveness indicators and the World Bank's ease of doing business have improved due to reforms like GST & IBC, but yet exports have been tepid and imports have surged

Jobs, competitiveness and happiness

oil, oil prices, brent crude, oil crisis, currency depreciation, iran oil crisis, global oil, oil firms, economy

Representative image

In this period of global turbulence, and with elections on the horizon, India must adopt credible and strong measures, along with clear communication, to stabilise the economy

Rupee @75-plus: Turbulence ahead

Illustration by Binay Sinha

Government should weigh the pros and cons of a solution before putting it into effect to ensure it does not end up creating even bigger problems down the line

Watch out for the Cobra Effect

The government unveiled a series of half-hearted measures to address it and kept kicking the can down the road

Economy: Between a rock and a hard place

The Terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission might undermine positive momentum towards 'cooperative federalism'

A minefield of issues

car manufacturing, vehicle

PM will surely exhort Davos crowd this month to come help make New India. 'Make in India' is great slogan, but more of what we buy, or what the rest of the world buys is not yet being 'Made in India'

Here's how Make in India can truly work

Economy

With high interest rates, and a low risk of depreciation, portfolio inflows have risen sharply, leading to the appreciation of the rupee

It's the economy, stupid

Ajay Chhibber: Redoing the fiscal math

Given the key role of states and PSUs in the economy, the panel that is reviewing FRBM Act must examine the broader public sector's finances, and not focus purely on the Centre's fiscal deficit

Ajay Chhibber: Reviving private investment is key

Sustained GDP growth of eight to nine per cent will be possible only if India's investment rate, which has dropped below 30 per cent, climbs back above 35 per cent

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

Big Tech

The legal battle between Humans of Bombay and People of India has exposed questions of originality, ethics, and commercialisation in the world of digital storytelling

Government readies 'improved' IPR policy before PM Modi's US visit

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is his own master, and the Ghosi byelection is a demonstration

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

Yogi Adityanath

The NHRC on Friday expressed serious concern over the "tardy progress" towards achieving zero stubble burning to reduce air pollution, with its chairperson saying the time has come to "fix responsibility of officers from the top to bottom".
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra said this while chairing the full Commission follow-up hearing through video conference on the matter of Delhi air pollution, which the rights panel had taken up suo motu last year on the basis of media reports, officials said.
Expressing serious concern over the tardy progress towards achieving zero stubble-burning to reduce air pollution, the NHRC chief said the time has come to "fix responsibility of officers from the top to bottom".
He said, "We have to rise to the situation as millions are choking due to air pollution and cannot allow it to be so perpetually".
"The poor farmers cannot be blamed solely for stubble burning some of them do not have the financi

stubble burning

He further posed a question, asking how other countries would react if they were in India's position, with their diplomats, embassies, and citizens facing intimidation

S Jaishankar

Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Friday said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's objection to Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar's "frequent" visits to Rajasthan reflects he is not interested in the state's development.
Noting that Dhankar is the "son of Rajasthan" and of a farmer, Muraleedharan said the visits by the President and Vice President will benefit any state and there is no politics in it.
"I am surprised why the chief minister here is objecting to such issue. It reflects that the chief minister is not interested in development and progress of the state," Muraleedharan told the media on the sidelines of inauguration of Rajasthan's second and country's 37th regional passport office in Kota.
Gehlot should welcome the vice president warmly, instead of objecting to his frequent visits, he added.
The senior Congress leader had said in a rally on Thursday, "Yesterday, the Vice President came and visited five districts. What is the logic? Elections are to 

V Muraleedharan

The profitability of Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Apple (MAMAA), twice the S&P 500 average of 10 per cent, has come to be seen as flowing from the abuse of market power, writes T N Ninan

Crises in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan reveal their structural weaknesses

Economy, India’s neighbourhood

As Multilateral Development Banks lead the charge to achieve sustainable development goals, here are four clear paths they should follow

Banks credit growth

How the rise of nuclear families in business transformed succession