Are the Prices of Petrol and Diesel Determined by the Market Forces In India?

The Indian government has supposedly deregulated the determination of prices of petroleum products like petrol and diesel in India. Every time prices of these two products go up, the government plays this card of deregulation to answer the critiques e.g., recently the Modi government reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel by 1.5 rupees […]

The IL&FS Insolvency: A Canary in the Coal Mine

IL&FS insolvency is rocking the Indian stock markets right now. The situation is so grim that the Modi government has now “nationalized” the company! They have bailed out a private limited company by using public money. The news is coming out that, as usual, LIC and state bank of India (SBI) are being coerced by […]

Rafale Deal and Corruption

The Modi government is embroiled in an alleged corruption case of  Rafale Jet deal with the French government. Opposition parties are now gunning for the resignation of prime minster Narendra Modi. They have accused him of personally influencing and altering the deal, which was originally put in place by the former UPA government, to benefit […]

Who Is Responsible for the Bad Loans (Non-Performing Assets) Problem?

A mud-slinging exercise is going on between the former Congress and present BJP government about who is responsible for the mounting non-performing assets (bad loans) problem. Political parties, as usual, are blaming each other for this mess. Former RBI governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan implicated bankers themselves for this problem. In a note on bank non-performing […]

Book Review: “The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East”

The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013 by Timur Kuran Middle East, the region that includes the old Ottoman Empire, Iran, Egypt, the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria, Libya etc., countries), is marred with economic backwardness and wars at least since last millennia. This cradle of civilization, where […]