From the Editor: Anil Tyagi

WHAT is governance? In modern parlance, it implies a government that can marry the critical issues of consistently-high economic growth and development with the crucial responsibilities to provide cheap, even free, roti, kapadaaurmakaan, as well as education, health, and infrastructure to the poor, underprivileged and exploited sections of a society. The nature of the government can vary—capitalist, socialist, communist or dictatorial. But the tasks essentially remain the same, although their relative importance can change. From the US to China, Japan to India, Malaysia to Middle East, and Russia to Africa, the overall goals remain the same. 

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Corruption: FROM RAJ TO RAFALE 16: Capital Drain, Capital Gains

IN the 1980s, the Indian public got to know of two sets of strange offshore entities that were based in global tax havens. One set included names such as Lotus, Tulip, and Mont Blanc that were located in Switzerland, Panama, and Lichtenstein, respectively. The other set comprised Crocodile Investments and Fiasco Investments that were headquartered in the Isle of Man. The first group was allegedly involved in the payments of bribes and commissions in the controversial Bofors case. The second played a dubious role in stock speculations in the Indian bourses.

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Cover story: Selling family silver

FACED with an existential challenge of continuing to shoulder the humungous exercise of operating 22,593 trains (9,141 freight and 13,452 passenger trains) daily, the government has apparently decided to exit from the rail transportation business. Following the December 24, 2019, decision of the Union Cabinet to merge the eight Railway services into a single Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS), the process of the dismantling of the superstructure of the Indian Railways – the last of the monopolies of the India government – has been initiated.

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Governance: NSEL, the endgame and guinea pigs

Afresh round of evidence indicates how the masterminds behind the Rs. 5,600-crore NSEL scam allegedly manipulated fronts like the Apian Finance and Investments Limited (Apian) and Indian Bullion Market Association (IBMA)—a consortium of leading bullion and jewellery merchants—as guinea pigs to maximise their own profits. The outcome was that while FTIL/NSEL raked in profits worth crores is a short spell of time, Apian, IBMA and a number of such companies were deliberately left high and dry.

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Governance: Climate crisis knocking on our doors

INDIA is a developing country with limited financial resources. The country is striving to provide basic amenities to its growing population. Climate change, a global problem, further adds to its already growing developmental challenges. Majority of the country’s production/economic sectors are vulnerable to the impacts of climate variability and change.

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Book extract: The Makings of Dalit Political Power

AMBEDKAR hailed from a family of military men. His father Ramji Sakpal was a Subedar Major in the British Indian Army. Ambedkar’s maternal grandfather and six uncles were also Subedar Majors in the British force. Subedar Major was the highest post any Indian could rise to in the British Army. The valour, loyalty or spiritual liberation did not break the shackles of centuries of untouchable status for the dalits. The untouchables were treated with unqualified disdain and hatred: physically, socially, economically, spiritually just as the Hindu social order demanded, upon its inhabitants.

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