Topic
Opinion & Commentary
A moment 30 years ago that had been a year and a half in the making:...
Rakesh Mohan narrates how the logic-defying system of industrial controls was dismantled, and discusses policies required to deal with the emerging challenges ...There is a need for high taxes uniformly across all tobacco products
Higher taxes will work in tandem with greater controls, and will help GoI pay for all the direct and indirect costs it ...1991 reforms aimed at more than just BoP crisis: Montek Singh Ahluwalia
The balance of payments (BOP) crisis was the immediate trigger but the other challenge was problem of slow growth, says Montek Singh ...The Chinese chatter on Jack Ma and his mysterious disappearance
The world wants to know where is China’s most charismatic business leader Jack Ma, but the issue remains shrouded in secrecy and ...Book review: The Historian’s Eye
Romila Thapar provides a nonjudgmental cultural perspective on China.Connect East: Explaining India’s BIMSTEC focus
India’s growing interest in BIMSTEC reflects a geo-economic priority to correct the exceptional connectivity gap that continues to divide the Bay of ...Pandemic exposed the existing societal framework as unsustainable
We must ask what from 2020 should we reinforce, what must we rebuild and what should we tear down and build again?India-China ties: The future holds ‘antagonistic cooperation’,...
The crisis has made it clear that India’s China policy cannot optimise for both security and prosperity.What China hopes to gain from the present border standoff with India
China's actions have brought about what it should be trying to deter, i.e. closer India-US coordination.A name upon a grave: India needs a proper account of the army’s war dead
If we are unable to reconcile the numbers of war dead, then naming and properly honouring every single one, and looking after ...Their ties go back in time but India, China were absent from each...
While exchanging goods, people, and ideas for centuries, India and China did not deal with other as states or impact each other’s ...Which economies showed the most digital progress in 2020?
Now more than ever, digital capabilities are essential to ensure a country’s growth and economic resilience. But how do different economies compare ...Ownership and governance of private sector banks – Part III
Going beyond its recommendations on ownership of private sector banks, there are some other internal working group (IWG) recommendations that bear scrutiny. ...Ownership and governance of private sector banks: Part II
Among the key problems that arise from the ownership of banks by nonfinancial companies are those of conflict of interest.Why private banks, their ownership structures need to be strictly...
Basic principles and international practice suggest that opening the door to the ownership of banks in India by large corporate/industrial houses should ...Interview | Should corporates be allowed to own banks?
Rakesh Mohan talks about the proposal to allow corporates to own banks and the state of the economy.A new map for the end of Oil Age: Technology is answer to energy...
How should India, an economy dependent on fossil fuels, navigate future energy transitions? A new book has some pointers.Coal power plants need an integrated approach
The three issues — retirement, pollution control, and making plants flexible — are inter-related. They need to be addressed in an integrated ...Joe Biden will need healing superpowers to get through his first hundred...
Joe Biden inherits a divided nation, government, party. Economy, foreign relations also need immediate healing.Make way for connectivity projects
Nepal and India should focus more on the strategic objective of developing infrastructure.How India can take the lead in reviving tourism in South Asia
The pandemic provides an opportunity for India to take the lead in promoting regional tourism, an important metric of soft power.Post-COVID, lack of social security has made many migrants consider...
A stark manifestation of the two-track development of our socio-economic polity is the ubiquitous spread of digital technology.India’s DisCom stress is more than the sum of its past
There must be an overhaul of the regulation of electricity firms and their deliverables using common sense metricsLeague of nationalists
How Trump and Modi refashioned the U.S.-Indian relationship.The war over Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy may overtake all other...
Battle over Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy, her Supreme Court seat, may overtake all other issues — pandemic, economic collapse, fires and ...Antitrust isn’t the solution to America’s biggest tech problem
The pandemic has revealed the most fundamental of our digital vulnerabilities.Make surveillance capitalists pay their dues
The world is now facing many technology crises: limited choices of search engines, social media platforms, and e-commerce sites; digital misinformation, concern ...India needs to invest in regional disaster relief mechanisms
Building capacities through training and joint exercises and coordinating comparative advantages for collective action will help India leverage goodwill among its neighbours ...Domestic concerns still shape India’s foreign policy
It is a truism that foreign policy begins at home. But how does this work in India’s case? Five forces are at ...Why Jagat Mehta would have seen Xi in the Mao mould, not Deng
I know my father would have advocated India find a diplomatic solution to the current imbroglio. But given his experience of Maoist ...South Asia must now build resilient supply chains
Facilitate cross-border flow of goods and services by reducing tariffs; improving logistics, infra and digitisation.How COVID-19 might impact India’s renewable energy transition
India, like other countries, had an ongoing energy transition, but the question becomes will COVID-19 create a pause or a shift in ...Indian Economy is in Structural Slowdown Since 2012
Cutting of rates won't have as much of a response. One does not know what in some sense ought to be the ...India’s biggest challenge: The future of farming
India has enough food; does it have too many people working in agriculture? The country needs a different set of solutions for ...Is Modi’s balancing act a reworking of India’s classic...
How many acronyms can one invent to signal a country’s foreign policy interests? Many, if you are Narendra Modi. The Indian prime ...The debate over jobs in India is missing the point
As nearly a billion Indians go to the polls this month and next, no one doubts jobs will be central to their vote. We ...100% electrification: Assessing ground reality
The past five years have seen a significant flux in India’s electricity sector. A number of policies have been adopted that have ...Some steps towards escalating the ambition on Universal Electricity Access
Whether full household electrification is achieved by March 2019 or later, India’s efforts at electrifying its rural population since the turn of ...India needs to change the thermal power story to survival of the fittest,...
The proposals for solving the current stranded capacity crisis should start a process of big picture thinking to achieve better collective outcomes ...Can natural gas be a catalyst to build a lower-carbon world?
The short answer to the question is yes; natural gas can be and has already become a catalyst in some countries, which ...Preserving the independence of the RBI
If proposals to set up an appellate body to review RBI’s regulatory and supervisory decisions were to be implemented, the whole supervisory ...Here’s why Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia are trying to...
Asia is in a state of flux. China’s Belt and Road Initiative is reshaping the region’s geography, with roads and railways traversing ...India rising: Soft power and the world’s largest democracy
Arguably, few phrases are as misused in international relations as “soft power.” When he coined the term, Joseph Nye captured the important ...India attempts to empower BIMSTEC after realising its limitations
Diplomats and foreign policy experts are puzzled by the absence of a “big announcement” or a major breakthrough from the fourth summit ...Here’s why central and eastern Europe may become an area of promise...
In a rare high-level engagement by India in an increasingly pivotal region, President Ram Nath Kovind is on a visit to Bulgaria ...Why health doesn’t get the media attention it deserves
Shamika Ravi spoke at The Media Rumble about making health political and democratised. “No country can develop on the back of poor human capital.”What India can do to build, bridge and bolster digital trust
There are more mobile phones than people on this planet, Facebook now has 2 billion monthly users, and over 93 per cent ...What can be expected from a Trump-Kim meeting?
In keeping with his reputation as the global disrupter-in-chief, US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented acceptance of a face-to-face meeting with North Korea’s ...Is the National Health Protection Scheme good public policy?
India recently announced an ambitious plan called the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) to provide government-sponsored insurance to roughly 500 million people ...Donald Trump’s trade war: A disruptive approach to trade policy
US President Donald Trump has changed the whole landscape of political discourse, especially with respect to trade policy. This began with the ...Budget 2018: Does the absence of energy from the finance minister’s...
I did not participate in the post-budget reflections on TV. I declined all invitations, in part, because it was not a novelty ...With the incursion of fake news, here’s what Facebook could do to...
Facebook has a world of problems. Beyond charges of Russian manipulation and promoting fake news, the company’s signature social media platform is ...Three un-Davos men: How the culture of contradiction infused the speeches...
The Harvard political scientist, Samuel Huntington, is most well-known for the idea of a clash of civilisations: Post-Cold War conflicts, he anticipated, ...India does not have the luxury to develop now and “clean up”...
New Year’s Day is an opportune occasion for reflection and re-emphasis. I summarise below 10 energy-related suggestions that I made last year, ...The year of being in denial
The act of denial is a psychological defence used by humans to reduce anxiety when they feel particularly disturbed by events. Nowadays, ...WTO and food stock holding row: Why India must strengthen world body
WTO’s 11th Ministerial Meeting ended on December 13 in Argentina, without any negotiated agreement on substantive issues. The Ministerial Decisions taken are ...Here’s how opening up the gender gap in internet usage would create...
We have all heard about a gap when it comes to participation of women in the tech industry. Facebook, Google, and Apple ...Why Donald Trump must grab the opportunity to get US trade policy right
US president Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) on his first day in office left the TPP highly uncertain. ...China’s Frankenstein: ‘Rocket Man’
The successful test of the Hwasong-15 missile by North Korea has triggered several consequences, intended and unintended: First, Kim Jong Un has ...An uncertain energy future
The government faces a renewable energy trilemma. It has set itself a target of quadrupling the generation capacity of solar energy by ...World Bank’s league table: India makes it to the top 100 nation for...
Pop the champagne and pass the mithai for it is, indeed, the epoch of belief, the season of light in the world’s ...The emerging Indo-Pacific architecture
The term “Indo-Pacific” has long been in vogue among marine biologists and ichthyologists to define the stretch of water from the tropical ...Demonetisation: A year after India killed cash, here’s what we can...
Almost a year ago, the Indian government rolled out an unprecedented policy move. Arguably, it was a time when the country was ...What’s changed in the Trump administration’s approach to Asia?
Let us give credit where credit is due. For all the talk of dysfunction and policy incoherence in Washington under President Donald ...Warring over disarmament in the UN
For most people the UN is the venue of an annual kabuki theatre where world leaders come to make sonorous speeches and ...Can the Saubhagya scheme work?
The government’s recently announced 100 per cent household electrification scheme, Saubhagya, aims to tackle the next link for electrification, where until now ...Tillerson’s visit opens a window of opportunity that India must...
In 2000, in the midst of a US election, George W Bush’s top foreign policy adviser Condoleezza Rice wrote an essay in ...The rise and rise of Xi Jinping: At 19th Party Congress, he consolidates...
The National Congress of the Communist Party, held every five years, is the closest thing authoritarian China has to an election. The ...Putting industrial policy experience to use
The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) has released a substantive discussion paper on industrial policy which identifies several key policy ...Donald Trump’s Iran folly and India’s dilemma
On 13 October, US President Donald Trump, in a much-anticipated move, declared Iran a “rogue regime”, a sponsor of terrorism, and an ...Even Nobel economists make ignoble mistakes
I try to teach people to make fewer mistakes,” said the newly-minted economics Nobel laureate, Richard Thaler, in an interview earlier this ...Can insecurity in Asia be managed?
Since the end of World War II, Asia-Pacific has been the locale of direct and indirect military confrontation (in Korea and Indo-China, ...Saubhagya programme: The next bold step for electrification – necessary...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a new scheme called Saubhagya to ensure electrification of all willing households in the country in rural as ...Challenges ahead for clean energy
Who doesn’t want clean or ‘green’ energy? But what if this costs a bit more? We might quickly find many people’s appetite ...Enhancing the India-Japan partnership
There has been much ado about the advance in India-Japan relations following the recent summit between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo ...India reforms health: A compendium of writings
Restructuring the Medical Council of India to eliminate corruption By Shamika Ravi NITI Aayog has proposed replacing the compromised Medical Council of ...The need for reforms in healthcare finance
The Centre and state governments are experimenting with several new and exciting ideas in healthcare reforms. What is missing, however, is a ...Who knew healthcare was so complex
The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” ...What Uttar Pradesh tells us about health infrastructure
The death of children in the recent Gorakhpur tragedy has drawn significant attention towards the state of public health institutions in Uttar ...Restructuring the Medical Council of India to eliminate corruption
The Medical Council of India (MCI) has been repeatedly criticized for providing opaque accreditation to aspiring medical colleges in India. Many of ...BRICS: From a big bang to a whimper
The 9th Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in Xiamen began dramatically with a big bang, but it was ...China miscalculated how to handle India, allowed face-saving exit
To the considerable relief of all parties involved, India and China agreed yesterday to end a 74-day stand-off by their security forces ...Afghanistan and a new hyphenation
US President Donald Trump’s much anticipated speech outlining his administration’s approach to the quagmire in Afghanistan was uncharacteristic. It was cogent, coherent, ...Beware the Trump effect
This is a tale of two septuagenarians; I hope they never meet. One is the country of India as an independent democratic ...Is the draft national energy policy for India actionable?
One cannot envy the task given to the NITI Aayog to produce a National Energy Policy (NEP). Almost all projections for future ...Why are China and India in a border standoff?
The standoff between Chinese and Indian forces near the trijunction with Bhutan is a live, and sensitive, issue for all three countries. ...A patchy green – energy policy in India
Arvind Panagariya did not list the “draft national energy policy”, prepared by the Niti Aayog and circulated for comment on June 27, ...For a greater global role, here’s why India should take SDGs...
On 19 July, India presented its first voluntary national report on the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the UN. Although ...The birth of the new Nuclear Prohibition Treaty
The 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is based on three myths: first, that nuclear weapons are an entitlement bestowed upon only a ...TPPs for success: Here is how India can use this gamechanger agreement
Three years ago, when the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) was seen as a game-changer in the evolving international trade regulatory regime, there ...Even as India attempts to ‘Act East’, it is ‘Thinking...
Not that long ago, the words ‘Not valid for travel to South Africa or Israel’ used to be clearly written on all ...Rethinking the budget in a post-GST India
The goods and services tax (GST) is finally here, so perhaps now is the time to reflect on how the budget can ...An energy warning and lessons
There is clarity and purpose in the management of our energy policy. Oil policy has been well defined and while it is ...When Narendra Modi played the Trump card
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first meeting with US President Donald Trump was, by most accounts of Raisina Hill and Washington, DC beltway ...Making a smart energy grid work for India
Newspapers are showcasing the dramatically lower costs of solar power, reportedly cheaper than coal power now, and we are told that smart ...On China, Modi Won Unexpected Support From Trump
There is a lot to analyse, and possibly over-analyse, about the recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald ...Important lessons for the Smart Cities Mission
With the 26th UN-Habitat governing council conference (GC26) held last month, the new urban agenda (NUA) has once again come to the ...Better data needed on job scenario
“There are lies, damned lies, and statistics,” the 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli famously said. Today, his description of questionable ...Book Review: Man on the Run
BRITISH INVESTIGATIVE journalists Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy have established themselves as specialists in fast-paced, densely-researched, narrative non-fiction books about the shadowy ...Realizing the India-US trade potential
There is significant scope to develop a cooperative India-US trade relationship that expands bilateral economic ties. This is something for US President ...If Trump, Modi talk climate
As is now well known, President Donald Trump has fulfilled his promise to pull the US out of the Paris climate agreement. ...Advancing cooperation in higher education
It is that time of the year when India struggles to meet the educational expectations of its youth. An increasing number of ...Clean energy can cement Indo-US ties
When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington, US President Donald Trump and he will find numerous areas of disagreement. High on ...Moving forward on defence and security
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets US President Donald Trump for the first time, the focus will be on establishing a good ...Narendra Modi goes to Washington, again
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans for his fifth visit to the US in just four years and his first face-to-face meeting ...Brace Yourself, South Asia’s Geopolitics Is Becoming More Complex,...
As in other parts of the world, the geopolitics of southern Asia is a result of its geography and history – and ...Donald Trump’s friends and foes: a role reversal
Since the US took to the global stage during World War I, two categories of countries have mattered to its world view: ...Donald Trump’s friends and foes: a role reversal
Since the US took to the global stage during World War I, two categories of countries have mattered to its world view: ...Over The Barrel: A note to the class of 2017
I was in the US last week for Commencement Week when students receive their degrees. The tradition is to surround this occasion ...‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ for the 21st century
From Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, India’s leaders have often evoked the phrase vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family), taken from ...India doesn’t have a lot to lose by boycotting OBOR. Read why
What does India want from the world? It’s quite clear, really: international partnerships to accelerate its domestic development, a stable and conducive ...New Delhi’s efforts at ICJ may just have won Kulbhushan Jadhav a...
On May 18, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the principal judicial arm of the United Nations – ruled on the ...The art of curry diplomacy
Infosys plans to curry favour with the Donald Trump administration with a promise of creating 10,000 new American jobs. We should note ...Joint Doctrine for Armed Forces: the single-service syndrome
Last month the three service chiefs released the latest iteration of the Joint Doctrine for the Indian Armed Forces. In the foreword ...Should India Inc. bid for Westinghouse?
George Westinghouse and the company he founded in 1886 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pioneered the commercial production and transmission of a scientific marvel ...Coming up Trumps
As Donald Trump completes 100 days as US President, what has it meant for India? The short answer is, nobody knows, not ...Why is today’s oil market, a ‘no mans’ land?
The oil market has never been easy to call but these days it appears to be in “no man’s” land. Why is ...Donald Trump’s tumultuous 100 days
As Donald Trump lunges towards 100 days of his presidency with the elegance of a raging bull in a china shop strewn ...Delhi’s inefficient electricity subsidies
Who doesn’t like discounts or freebies, especially from the government? Subsidies aren’t inherently wrong they can help keep goods and services affordable, ...Can unarmed states prohibit nuclear weapons?
Guess what terrifies nations armed with the most powerful weapons ever invented? Believe it or not a mere UN conference to ban ...Can unarmed states prohibit nuclear weapons?
Guess what terrifies nations armed with the most powerful weapons ever invented? Believe it or not a mere UN conference to ban ...View from India: Pak may want to think twice about US mediation
Donald Trump, deal-maker. That’s how the president of the United States has long branded himself. But his tenure as deal-maker-in-chief has not ...Over The Barrel: Democrat’s dilemma
Thomas Jefferson wrote, “a government big enough to give you everything you want is also strong enough to take away everything you ...China benefits from nuclear disorder
The rise in global nuclear disorder and its increasing disconnect from world order is epitomized in the nuclear weapon programmes of ...Why EVMs are win-win
Free and fair elections to choose political representatives are a cornerstone of a democracy, and a fundamental human right of people. Voting ...How Companies Can Champion Sustainable Development
Given political climates around the world and a new wariness around international cooperation, the private sector could find itself in the hot ...North-East Asia goes dangerously ballistic
If there was any doubt that North-East Asia has become the most dangerous place on earth, with the prospect of a nuclear ...A sentinel’s censure
The latest collection of P. Chidambaram’s articles is an indictment of India’s evolution as a liberal democracy I was a panelist ...Indo-US naval cooperation: steady as she goes?
The US and Indian navies could carry out ‘benign naval and maritime activity’ during periods of diplomatic strain. In the ever-expanding universe ...Trump’s new trade tax in uncharted territory
The proposed border tax adjustment policy deviates from the conventional WTO-consistent regime. US President Donald Trump is expected to announce his new ...No such thing as a perfect renewable energy contract
India’s 175 GW renewable energy (RE) targets by 2022 are ambitious, to say the least. Compared to RE targets in Europe, China, ...India is an average low-tariff economy, there are misconceptions otherwise
India is widely known as a country with high import tariffs. This view, however, is incorrect. Changing this view is important for ...Can Trump really value a strong, independent India?
The US capital is a strange place these days. The District of Columbia’s coffee shops are running a brisk business, attending to ...A disrupter’s guide to India’s defence budget
While India’s defence budget is now the fourth largest in the world, it is not providing adequate bang for the buck The ...2016, the year of inflexion for the oil industry?
India hasn’t yet joined the global move towards clean energy. But for how long can it hold out? A large part of ...“Finance Minister is looking to present a budget against the...
Brookings India Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta speaks to journalist Karan Thapar on whether the Finance Minister should be cautious or bold in ...What Trump’s TPP withdrawal means for India
In one of his first acts upon assuming office, Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum confirming the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific ...Demonetisation – thereafter proposing a new abnormal
Now let’s try demonetisation without denouement, perpetually preserve the uncertainty A little over two months has passed since the Narendra Modi government’s ...Passing the baton: what to watch in the Donald Trump regime
With Donald Trump taking over as US President from Barack Obama, what legacy does he inherit? How could the change in administration ...A tradeoff between growth and social objectives exists for microfinance...
Senior Fellow Shamika Ravi was a panellist at the 5th Plenary of Day 2 at the Inclusive Finance India Summit 2016, held ...Global trends: discontinuity and disruption – risks and challenges...
Key global trends include rising income, climate change, growing cyber dependency, ageing population, artificial intelligence, and the changing nature of conflict Last ...Barack Obama leaves a mixed legacy: impressive handling of the US economy...
Eight years ago, on a freezing January morning, I stood with over a million people on the National Mall in Washington DC ...The fight against hidden hunger: targeting the first 1000 days of a...
India faces an invisible public health crisis in the form of widespread maternal and child undernutrition. One-third of Indian women (of reproductive ...Data management: India needs agency for energy data
India has no central body for maintaining and disseminating energy data, let alone analysing it. We propose the creation of a national ...Finding the sync: connecting the fragmented liberal and democratic...
Last year raised questions over relevance of liberal democratic processes, called for a review. 2016 has been a dramatic year. I am ...How India can meet its ambitious renewable energy targets
A systemic approach that focuses on enabling the environment for more renewable energy will help India to meet its target of generating ...Demonetisation push to labour reforms: molding the future of the markets
Demonetisation has the potential to facilitate an environment that will develop a formal culture in India’s labour markets Among the loudest critics ...The government’s ‘little mistakes’ can have a high cost
A relative passed away recently… or should I say in the future? See the official government death certificate issued, which shows a ...How Donald Trump may re-negotiate the TPP
In a recent video message, US president-elect Donald Trump announced certain actions he would take on the first day of his administration. ...Trump’s decision on Trans-Pacific Partnership gives India some...
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was a landmark trade deal driven by US which spanned 12 Pacific Rim countries, excluding China. It was viewed ...How to tame a dragon: To deal with Chinese muscle in a post-American...
The election of Donald Trump as US president has unleashed further uncertainty on a world already in considerable flux. Trump has promised ...‘India should be less worried about trade with US than others’
Dhruva Jaishankar, Fellow, Foreign Policy, Brookings India, tells Aditi Phadnis of the Business Standard that India should take advantage of Donald Trump’s ...Demonetisation: Effect on interest rates, inflation and policy action
Dr. Shamika Ravi (Senior Fellow, Brookings India) and Dr. Eswar Prasad (Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution) participated in a debate about the demonetisation ...India, meet President Trump
For India, there are naturally opportunities in Trump’s election, but concerns over his Asian policy cannot be brushed aside With the election of ...Uncertainty and unpredictability about Trump’s presidency
Dhruva Jaishankar spoke to Quint and BloombergQuint on what having Donald Trump as the next U.S. President means for India. The election of ...With Trump’s victory, American exceptionalism came to an end
Fifteen years ago, I came to the United States as an undergraduate student. A few weeks after my arrival, I watched the ...Shamika Ravi on implications on govt’s demonetisation move
Speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to demonitise Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, Senior Fellow Shamika Ravi in this Facebook Live ...Demonetization is a net positive move
Scaling back large bills will not end crime, but it will force the underground economy to employ riskier methods In a special ...To keep good company
There are many other questions, but the larger point is that the time may have come for a broad-based introspective review. Reams ...Over the barrel: A swadeshi index
World Bank rankings on ease of doing business ignore the complexity of the Indian landscape. An indigenous framework is needed. WAS IT ...Brics Summit overshadowed by “how to isolate Pakistan” agenda
Instead of using the Brics summit to push for greater economic growth and a greater global governance role, India sought to use ...Progress must be made to corporatise railways: Rakesh Mohan
Rakesh Mohan, distinguished fellow, Brookings India, has said that while scrapping the separate Railway Budget is a positive move, the government has ...Pew survey results heartening for government but should not lead to...
What does India think? This is a question that those of us who work on policy issues outside of government are often ...India’s bid for “regionalism” in South Asia and what it...
The killing of 18 Indian soldiers on Sunday, which New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based militants, is just the latest incident to drive a ...Municipal bond market could be the answer to financing woes of Smart...
As India considers more flexible and reliable ways of paying for the improvement of smart cities, the largely untapped municipal bond market can ...Save me, technology; for I have (energy) sinned
Many things demand a balance, energy being one of them. Electricity, in fact, must always be in balance as grid power cannot ...“Govt’s ambitious power capacity target may lead to huge...
The Economic Times on our latest IMPACT Series paper, ‘India’s Updated (2016) Renewable Energy “Guidelines”: Bold targets, but can we meet them?’. Download ...India’s Updated (2016) Renewable Energy “Guidelines”:...
The government has announced a number of targets and support mechanisms for renewable energy (RE). Almost two years ago, the central government ...Why Hillary is a safe bet for India
The field is set. With the formal anointing of party nominees at the Republican and Democratic Party conventions in July, either Hillary ...For smart cities to succeed, strengthening local governance is a must
The lack of effective devolution of power to local governments is a major bottleneck in the essential transformation of urban India. India is ...How India reformed its petroleum sector
Political compulsions ensured that the process was done slowly, steadily and stealthily Indian newspapers have carried a series of interesting recollections by ...Think you’re being eco-friendly by using cloth bags? Think again
The most important factor for cloth bags to actually be “eco-friendly”: reuse 171 times. That’s how many times one reportedly has to ...China’s reaction to Hague ruling could have negative impact on other...
China’s shrill and bellicose response during and after the ruling has only served to heighten alarm over Beijing’s intentions and behaviour among ...Is the struggle between China and India a struggle to secure their energy...
India will need to import the bulk of its fuel for this decade and the next. In another four years, India is expected ...The South China Sea arbitration ruling, and why it matters to India
The future of the South China Sea has global implications, as jurisdiction over a few seemingly minor islands legitimises control over vast ...As China’s Pakistan ties deepen, India needs a strategy to mitigate...
Much of what we have seen in the strengthened China-Pakistan alignment in the last decade is a reaction to the rise of ...Here’s how the future of the South China Sea will have global...
On Tuesday, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague released its much-awaited ruling on a case brought by the Philippines against ...Brexit, missile control and India
A diminished England, sans nuclear weapons, coupled with a fragmenting Europe, is unlikely to play its traditional role of shaping norms Two ...Divided, volatile world ahead
Brexit could not have come at a worse time. The world is a risky place, and many problems can only be addressed ...Brexit: The first major casualty of digital democracy
In the aftermath of the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union, we are left with more questions than answers. Dhruva ...
India has done little to bridge energy supply-demand gap
India has done very little in the last few decades by way of harmonizing its governance structures to secure its energy needs ...Critical Seoul NSG meet will have reverberations for India’s...
NSG meeting is no less important, for the potential implications it could have for relations between India and China writes Dhruva Jaishankar ...A game changer: Electricity feeder monitoring
The Government of India is proposing a bold and major scheme for monitoring, visualizing, and analyzing feeder level power supply across the ...Indian economy set to soar irrespective of PM Narendra Modi’s...
The caveats are many. But there are compelling reasons to believe that the economy will slowly but surely pick up momentum writes ...India-US relations: Energy and environment
The energy market has undergone a major structural change since 2015. The most dramatic manifestations of this change are Saudi Arabia’s decision ...India-US relations: Higher education
Over the past decade, college tuition fees in the United States have skyrocketed, making it extremely difficult for average Americans to invest ...India’s underpowered foreign policy
Narendra Modi government needs to work with several other constituents, including state governments, corporate sector, think tanks and civil society writes WPS ...Sustainable development goals must be linked to energy and environment
Niti Aayog needs a sharp focus on weakening the link between energy demand and environmental degradation writes Vikram Mehta Niti Aayog has ...Can India’s Think Tanks Be Truly Effective?
If there is one big challenge that all think tanks face it is measuring their effectiveness writes Dhruva Jaishankar I have worked ...What the Nuclear Security Summits mean for South Africa
WPS Sidhu provides an in-depth analysis of South Africa’s nuclear position and the ramification of Nuclear Security Summits on South Africa The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) ...The Urgent Need For India To Build A Design Economy
The “Make in India” initiative aims to create 100 million new jobs in the coming 10 years in the manufacturing sector and ...Updating Aadhaar for better privacy
Privacy with Aadhaar isn’t just an abstract issue, but related to the fundamental view of how data are to be accessed and ...The Brussels syndrome
There needs to be an international consensus on zero tolerance for all terrorism, as advocated by India and several other countries writes ...Next step in PM Jan Dhan Yojana is to help people start using their new...
A recent article in Global Government Forum quotes a Brookings India research paper on financial inclusion which calls for a model of financial inclusion which specifically caters to ...Dr Barack versus President Obama
Barack Obama’s foreign policy reflects a moral duality that has befuddled friends and enemies alike Barack Obama’s foreign policy, like the main ...Planning for Accelerating Smart Meter and Smart Grid Rollouts in India
The Electricity Policy has taken a bold move to kick-start Smart Meters in India. This discussion note discusses roll-out the options. Many ...How Make in India can be bad news for trade deal with Australia
Brookings India Chairman Vikram S Mehta explains the reason for tensions over India’s trade and manufacturing policy. In a story in the ...Tie women’s reservation bill to sex ratio of constituency
Our existing political system is unlikely to throw up solutions for deep rooted gender inequality. The Women’s Reservation Bill has been doing ...Budget fails to lay out a clear roadmap for petroleum industry
Petroleum industry is in terrible shape. Brookings India chairman and former CEO of Shell Vikram S Mehta details what the Finance Minister can ...A tale of an election and a selection
Unless the P5 recognize that a weak and inept leader challenges their own legitimacy, the UN will be encumbered by a powerless ...Union Budget: FM has chosen stability over growth
In the face of a sluggish global economy and volatile global markets Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had to convey a message of continued ...Marginal revolutions from Budget 2016
There are numerous small announcements in finance minister Arun Jaitley’s budget that must be lauded comments Shamika Ravi Most television channels track ...Budget 2016: Reduce & refocus power & diesel subsidies
Brookings India Fellow Dr. Rahul Tongia’s energy wishlist for Budget 2016 may be difficult to pull off in a single budget, it ...Women who rose to the top and shattered stereotypes
Skard harbours the belief that it is women at the very top who make any sort of substantial change, but in India ...Over-Ruled: Why Maximum Governance Must Start With Minimizing Certain...
Some time ago, I missed my grandfather’s funeral because an airline’s manager hid behind rules. No, I wasn’t asking him to break ...The Data Is Unambiguous: The Odd-Even Policy Failed To Lower Pollution In...
The Delhi government’s two-week-long odd-even rule ended on 15 January, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announcing that the plan will return in ...Xi Jinping’s strategic Middle East gambit
The Chinese president’s visit to Iran (after summits in Saudi Arabia and Egypt) is of strategic significance. What is the difference between ...“Withdrawal of sanctions on Iran a huge opportunity for India to...
Watch Vikram S Mehta on Macros with Mythili on ET Now. There’s been a dramatic collapse in the price of crude oil ...Looking forward to a big bang budget
The global economy is in trouble, but India is attracting positive comment. The finance minister must make the most of the moment. ...Support research as corporate social responsibility in India
India must build a culture of knowledge creation by fostering public support for research. Research is like defence, a pure public good which ...The global implications of Barack Obama’s speech
The US president’s swan song has eloquently, though incompletely, spelt out an ambitious but essential vision for a new world order The ...What drives South Asians to peacekeeping?
Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), quotes Brookings India Non-Resident Senior Fellow WPS Sidhu extensively on how Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal ...Delhi’s odd-even policy unsustainable
There is tremendous interest in the new experiment that Delhi government is running on the roads of the national capital. To complement ...End of the oil age
Oil will diminish in significance in a reconfigured energy system. Decades hence, 2015 might well be seen as the year the oil era ...India has played a significant role in shaping 3 key deals in 2015
2015 will be remembered for bold initiatives at the bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral level As 2015 draws to an end, it will ...Avoiding a cop out in Paris
Three of the most exciting initiatives have emerged on the sidelines of the official deliberations, and Indians have played a prominent role ...Interview | India warns country’s coal consumption to double in...
Rahul Tongia, Fellow, Energy and Environment in an interview with James Bennett, AM, ABC News, Friday December 18, on India’s coal consumption ...India and Climate Change – Spoilsport or just late to the party?
India may have been late to the emissions party, but with innovation and rapid development, it can make a disproportionate contribution to ...Delhi’s bar on cars: Using a sword instead of a scalpel for surgery
Enough has been written (mostly against) the idea to limit cars in Delhi, by license plate. Will it work? Can you enforce ...Initiatives needed from India to reduce the import of oil
Recently, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan spoke at the release of the IEA’s India Energy Outlook about cutting down of the country’s import ...Any progress on climate change will depend on innovation and global...
The climate-change relevant question is, how will the continuing compounded advance of technology impact the energy sector? How do we square this ...Chennai floods: A ‘Smart City’ must also be a ‘Resilient...
One of the most important ambitions of modern India is the 100 smart cities project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We want ...Will India accept legally binding agreements at COP21?
As world leaders gather for the global COP21 climate negotiations. Many may feel it is now or never. But the question remains, ...Smart city initiatives should recognise differences between Indian cities
Indian smart city efforts need to recognise the economic differences between its cities. Off-the-shelf technology solutions are not viable Prime Minister Narendra ...Subir Gokarn signs off addressing four broad economic themes
A change in roles means that this will be the last column of this series. Looking back over the almost three years ...Over the past two decades, every fifth suicide in India is by a housewife
The most disturbing trend to emerge out of the National Crime Record Bureau data is that consistently for over 2 decades, every ...Will oil remain the bulwark of global energy system in the long-term?
“The Future of Oil” is headed towards an interesting crossroad. The pathway will not be signposted; there will be many twists and ...Cities become battlefields of terrorism as world continues to urbanise
The recent series of dastardly and heinous attacks in places as dispersed as Baghdad, Beirut, Bamako, Kabul and Paris by myriad terrorist ...Leveraging the CSR mandate
Some institutional arrangements that can maximise the collective impact of individual contributions The Companies Act of 2013 mandates a contribution of two ...Africa: The indispensible continent for India?
Despite the Narendra Modi government’s foreign policy hyper-activism, Africa has remained a neglected continent for India. When the India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS), ...India Inc worried about rise of religious, social intolerance
Is India liberal, tolerant and democratic, or is it conservative, atavistic and authoritarian? Investors want to know Key highlights: It takes a ...How to make government missions more successful
The recent behaviour of tur dal prices suggests that the National Mission on Protein Supplements set up in 2011-12 has remained largely ...UN missions bedrock of India’s military engagement and assistance to...
India must have a serious dialogue with African countries on its role in future peacekeeping operations on the continent. India’s participation in ...Private sector, state government, civil society can take India-Africa...
With over 40 African heads of governments and states attending, the third India-Africa Forum Summ (IAFS) being held in New Delhi is ...Africa, the indispensable continent for India
Four ways in which India and Africa matter to each other The third (IAFS) in New Delhi this week, with over 40 ...Average rural consumer ends up subsidizing power for urban residents
An article in the Scientific American quotes Brookings India Fellow Rahul Tongia’s research. Rural homes regularly experience rolling blackouts during times of ...Tur travails – Three components of a structural solution to the pain...
There is no better way to understand the spike in the price of tur dal than through simple supply and demand factors. ...Great power dance at the United Nations
Coupled with the re-engagement of existing and emerging powers with the proceedings, the UNGA is becoming an important venue for a great ...Depression drives maximum farmers to suicide, not debt, finds Brookings...
Depression, and not debts, is responsible for the decades-long tragedy of farmer suicides in Maharashtra, said a paper by an American think-tank ...Simplifying bureaucracy should be PM’s new mantra
The needle of change must be shifted more sharply, democracy is not an acceptable cover for non-performance. There is a telling vignette ...Matters of valuation
The government’s multi-pronged approach, labelled Indradhanush, attempts to address a number of structural problems of public sector banks, including asset quality, writes ...Subir Gokarn on RBI Monetary Policy review
Brookings India Director of Research and former Deputy Governor of the RBI, Subir Gokarn, answers questions on the RBI Monetary Policy review in ...Shaping the Asian financial architecture
A new financial architecture that replicates the Bretton Woods framework is being built in Asia, with China playing a pivotal role. Subir ...How Far Can IndraDhanush Go?
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently announced the Indradhanush framework – a reform structure for transforming the public sector banks. Subir Gokarn (Director of Research, ...SGDs: India’s potential path to global power
Fact: India is home to more than 30% of the world’s extremely poor people Fact: Uttar Pradesh accounts for 8% of world’s population ...Why inequality needs a radical agenda
INEQUALITY: WHAT CAN BE DONE? Anthony B Atkinson HARVARD BUSINESS; Pages 400, Rs 1,250 Inequality is back in fashion, thanks to Thomas ...Cleaning coal instead of wishing it away
The World Bank recently announced that short of exceptional circumstances, they would no longer fund coal in developing regions. The U.S. and ...Narendra Modi’s class act on Teachers’ Day
But the challenge in education lies in enabling teachers to innovate and individualise pedagogy. Key takeaways from the Brookings India publication, Accelerating Access ...From Pittsburgh to Antalya
The G-20 may have to revert to its crisis management role, but in more complex conditions The G-20 finance ministers and Central ...VIDEO: 7% GDP suggests economy not recovering with domestic investments
Subir Gokarn pushes for government reforms in infrastructure and ease of doing business This interview first appeared on ET Now on 31 ...Space: securing India’s final frontier
The launch of the GSLV–D6 powered by an indigenous cryogenic engine is a game-changer Even as the country was agog with a ...VIDEO Yuan depreciation: India needs to protect domestic producers
Subir Gokarn says our ability to withstand shocks is greater than it was three years ago Watch his full interview on CNBC ...VIDEO: To avoid market freeze, central banks have to act
More disruptions in financial and other markets unless central banks take necessary actions to ensure markets do not freeze Watch the full ...Chinese tremors
China’s path to global economic leadership is bound to be marked by episodes of turbulence Recent developments in the Chinese financial sector ...UNSC: Misreading an opportunity
Recent news reports would have us believe that India’s chances for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have ...Health care – how, where & how much?
In my previous column, I wrote about some patterns emerging from the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO’s) household survey on expenditure on ...Smart is as smart does
A few years ago, smart grids were all the rage Amitabh Bachchan was even on the cover of a business magazine in ...CSR: Corporates Should Reach out
India Inc can no longer limit its CSR involvement to the new Companies Act. It has to forge partnerships with the beneficiary ...Women voters can tip the scales in Bihar
This column first appeared in The Hindu, on July 28, 2015. Like other products of the Brookings Institution India Center, this is intended to contribute ...Educational reach and grasp
This column first appeared in Business Standard, on July 26, 2015. Like other products of the Brookings Institution India Center, this is intended to contribute ...Revealing the real strategic significance of BRICS
The recently concluded twin summits in Ufa – the summits of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping and ...Profiling and targeting
Big data provides both companies and governments the ability to differentiate sharply and productively between customers and beneficiaries of welfare programmes. Used ...India’s Suicide Problem
For over a decade, farmer suicides in India has been a serious public policy concern. More recently, this has led to a ...Strategic Importance of Ufa Summits
The recently concluded twin summits in Ufa, Russia of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping and the SCO ...The art of distraction
I recently returned to Delhi after several days at my home in Binsar. Binsar is a remote forest and wildlife sanctuary in ...Brics: Shaping a New World order, Finally
From the 6th Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit at Fortaleza to the forthcoming seventh Brics summit in Ufa ...Key Policy Insights
Quality Focus on Learning Outcomes: There is an unequivocal need for the education system to shift its focus from access and ...Keeping peace among peacekeepers
The word peacekeeping does not appear anywhere in the Charter of the UN. Yet, ever since the first peacekeeping operation was launched ...Think Beyond Health Insurance
Budget 2015 was creative on several dimensions but fresh thinking was completely missing in health financing. This budget, like several in the ...Looking ahead: The next 365 days
By most accounts Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has notched up a good year in the foreign policy realm, with Modi himself ...The one-year scorecard
As the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government approaches its first anniversary, the assessments have ranged from congratulatory to critical, depending on the ...Shaping India’s energy future: Ambitions, actions and obstacles
Multi-domain, multi-scale, and multi-stakeholder efforts are needed to overcome the combination of acute and chronic challenges facing India’s energy future. Analogies aren’t ...Re-starting infrastructure
While the government has taken several steps in the right direction, these measures do not add up to a credible strategy to ...A new energy
A year ago, I was requested to make recommendations on a 100-day action plan on energy for the new government. In response, ...Rainfall and the economy
The first forecast for the south-west monsoon this year caused concern. It projected aggregate rainfall during the June-September period to be 93 ...The inclusion project
A little more than a week ago, World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching the Pradhan ...What the Iran nuclear deal means for India
The Iran deal or the “Parameters for a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Nuclear Program”, ...The great oil circle
Oil prices have played a huge part in global economicdynamics over the past several years. They rose sharply in the couple of years ...Big problem, small solution
Achhe din sparked hope. The black market bill, whilst laudable in intent, has, however, raised fears of reinvigorated “inspector raj”. The labyrinthine maze of bureaucratic ...Having your cake…
We are told early in life that we cannot both have our cake and eat it, too. Of course, this is taught ...Band-aid solutions for health problems
The Draft National Health Policy of 2015 released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, is a comprehensive ...Brightening the future with the sun and wind
India received commitments for over 260,000 MW of renewable energy during RE-Invest. While this is a great supply-side achievement, there are several ...Trysts with e-governance
This column first appeared in Business Standard, on February 8, 2015. Like other products of the Brookings Institution India Center, this is intended to contribute ...The Green Budget
This column first appeared in the Indian Express, on February 2, 2015. Like other products of the Brookings Institution India Center, this is intended to ...The Big Deal
This column first appeared in the Indian Express, on January 29, 2015. Like other products of the Brookings Institution India Center, this is intended to ...