Op-Eds

When taking the G20 gavel, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he will focus on problems of debt sustainability in low income countries. He made it clear that the first African Chair of the G20 is there for all of Africa, acknowledging the continent is home to 22 of the world’s 26 low income countries—half  of...   Read More

Enhancement of the limit is not sufficient to make the scheme more accessible or beneficial to a broader section of farmers. The repayment schedule is also a significant challenge. Budget 2025 is one of the most promising Budgets in recent years, aiming to address the needs of the masses after a long time. One of...   Read More

A shift in focus from continuous expansion to ensuring sustainability and effectiveness of programmes is imperative for achieving policy success. The world is at a crossroads, navigating unprecedented economic, technological, geopolitical, and environmental challenges. Donald Trump’s uncompromising “America First” policies and the use of coercion to achieve his objectives have heightened economic and geopolitical uncertainties,...   Read More

The global banking system has faced mounting disruptions in recent years, from the 2008 financial crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, another force is threatening to reshape the financial landscape: the rise of reciprocal tariffs and protectionist trade policies. The idea of reciprocal tariffs appears straightforward: if a country imposes tariffs on U.S. goods, the...   Read More

Boosting female labour force participation is not just a matter of gender equality but is also an economic imperative. India’s quest for high economic growth and social equity hinges on an obvious but underrated lever — its women’s workforce. Despite significant progress in education and health care, the country lags in enabling women’s economic participation....   Read More

Perhaps US efforts to cut off China’s access to advanced semiconductors will be more successful than analogous restrictions on tech exports to France in the 1960s. But we now have at least one data point – DeepSeek – that suggests otherwise. BERKELEY – Starting in October 2022, the late, lamented (by some) administration of President Joe...   Read More

After maintaining the status quo for nearly two years, the RBI has lowered the policy repo rate by 25 basis points, lowering it from 6.5 percent to 6.25 percent. The cut-first in five years- is justified, whether one looks at India’s own record over the last few years or its record relative to the rest...   Read More

Unlike in most economies, employment doesn't translate into protection from intimate partner violence for women in India. Perversely, they suffer a higher risk especially if they earn more. The immense potential of India’s large population, particularly women, remains largely underutilised in its rapidly growing economy. Female labour force participation remains nearly 20 percentage points lower...   Read More

Will machines that think also forget?  Artificial intelligence is now irreversibly out of Pandora’s box, as Martin Wolf of the Financial Times observed, and we must learn to live with machines that can think. The real concern, however, is not just the intelligence of these machines but what they might choose to forget. For centuries,...   Read More

Waste management is the responsibility of municipal bodies in urban India. But these local bodies have inadequate waste-disposal facilities and poor resources. The excess dumping of waste at the Dhapa ground has been a cause of concern for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The civic body is looking for an alternative dumping ground as Dhapa is...   Read More