Priority economics

This latest edition of the Governance Watch deals with the intricate and complex issue of economic administration in India.

Whither civil society?

For a country where democratic institutions have for thousands of years dominated body politic and civic life, 2013 is likely to present the most serious challenge yet to its political and social processes.

Raining largesse in AP

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, may be politically embattled, but that has not deterred him from launching an extensive, all out campaign for implementing several development schemes, which he believes will help him and the Congress regain lost ground.

The state has withered away

Chickens come to roost

Rarely has a country been at the economic crossroads as India is. In dictatorships, economic policy runs a course dictated strongly by political logic.

Kudankulam effect

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) constitute a critical element of civil society and it would be no exaggeration to say that they are, in fact, its main drivers.

Clear eyed look

The Union Budget is one of the most crucial days in the Indian calendar. On that one afternoon that heralds the advent of spring, the financial health of the country, its growth rate, future projections and investment climate is kept on the table, a copious piece of public document which concerns the economic well being not just of a group of people or a community but the country at large.

Making a difference

An appointment to the civil service of the Company,’’ noted the Macaulay Committee Report in 1854 giving India its first modern bureaucracy which recommended that the patronage-based system of East India Company be scrapped in favour of tough competitive examinations, “will not be a matter of favour but a matter of right.

A flawed model

When people say that India is not a security conscious nation, they are probably missing the woods for the trees. It would be difficult to find another example of a nation rated as the second largest growing economy in the world also being among the most security slack countries in the world.

Perception as Reality

In India, legislations have followed a similar logic and plot since 1947. They have helped shape contemporary thought, in addition to moulding public opinion, influencing politicians and policymakers in such a way they constitute an integral part of contemporary Indian history.

Things that make India tick

A year after the 1857 revolt had been well and truly quelled, the British in India embarked upon their first major administrative voyage, the Act for the Better Government of India, 1858, a legislation of far reaching import.