gfiles magazine

September 10, 2018

Governance : A case of an FIR and an award


IT is ironical that on the eve of the 72nd Indian Independence Day, the Supreme Court of India should be witness to hearing of a petition by over 300 serving army personnel across ranks, appealing against the dilution of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The petitioners contend they ‘believe that sovereignty, security and integrity of the nation is at higher pedestal than even the Constitution of India’ and that the ultimate sacrifice required of a soldier ‘cannot be sustained under a state of confusion or cloud as to the bonafide duty itself’.

Governance : Development Agenda for New India 2022


THE NITI Aayog was expected to introduce the draft development agenda for New India 2022 at the June 17 meeting of its Governing Council. But it didn’t as it reportedly felt that the draft development agenda should be sent to the States for getting their detailed inputs. My take on this is that India needs high GDP growth which is inclusive and is consistent with a sustainable balance of payments situation.

Governance : Time to cash in


INDIA is undergoing a period of prodigious change, things are being looked at from a whole new perspective and rural India, is today, at the heart of many government policies and initiatives. In all this, the Prime Minister’s passionate appeal of doubling farmer’s income assumes a game changing role. To my mind, this can become even more attainable if we look at the tremendous potential that cash crops have to offer.

Governance : Too much noise


WITH the publication of  the RBI Annual Report, giving the number and value of demonetised notes coming back to the chests of the Central Bank, the issue whether demonetisation (note bandi) has been a success or failure has come up for  discussion in public domain in a big way and some persons like Rahul Gandhi, President of main opposition party (Congress) has greatly criticised note bandi saying that it has pushed back GDP growth substantially to the detriment of common people, benefitting only 15-20 people, who are close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This article considers how far such criticism is valid and justified.



Corruption : FROM RAJ TO RAFALE – 1 : Clive of Corruption


BY the third quarter of the 18th century, there was one word in Britain that was both loved and hated, and reviled and admired. The word was Nabobs. They were not the usual Nawabs, who ruled small and large territories in India. They were the junior and senior servants of the East India Company, who came back with huge riches from Hindoostan, bought expensive town houses and huge tracts of rural land, and bribed their way to political power, or a seat in British Parliament. The Nabobs became a part of neo-aristocracy that threatened the old order.