&w=3840&q=100)
India in Flux offers up new ways to think about complex challenges ahead
Laveesh Bhandari
A World in Flux: India's Economic Priorities. Essays in Honour of Shankar Acharya
Edited by Amita Batra & A K Bhattacharya
Published by
Rupa
448 pages ₹795
Shankar Acharya is undoubtedly a unique personality. Disarmingly affable yet ruthlessly incisive, both as a policy economist and as a thought leader, he has made significant contributions to India's growth. Over a period of eight years, as the chief economic advisor, he played a pivotal role in helping shape economic policies that have propelled India from being a laggard economy to the forefront of economic growth globally. This success, no doubt, cannot be ascribed to any one
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: Soggy dribbles in finance, films, and diplomacy
There's something oddly thrilling about playing football in the park when it's raining heavily. You know it's not the ideal setting as every pass splashes water, every dribble slows down as the ball skids unpredictably across the soggy grass. But somehow, the game goes on. Strategy shifts. You focus more. Every movement demands improvisation. The mess, the friction, and the lost grip, it all becomes part of the play. Today's writeups hint at something similar. Institutions, industries, and individuals navigating a slippery, waterlogged pitch — trying to dribble ahead, adjusting each move to the terrain beneath. Let's dive in. Take India's state finances. A Crisil report shows revenue bouncing back slightly, with GST and liquor excise pulling their weight, but petroleum taxes dragging like waterlogged boots. Despite the slip-and-slide, states have kept their fiscal balance mostly intact. Yet deeper puddles remain: heavy dependence on the Centre and a debt-to-GDP ratio still high, notes our first editorial. Reform now means finding better studs: tighter GST compliance, digital tax trails, and predictable federal transfers. The game is on, but the pitch is far from ideal. In cinema too, the ball's taking unexpected turns. Aamir Khan's move to YouTube's pay-per-view model isn't just disruptive, it's democratic, highlights our second editorial. It bypasses uneven theatre access and expensive OTT subscriptions, bringing big films to small screens at Rs 100 or less. But success here hinges on how well creators learn to play on mobile-first grounds, use AI dubbing, and price smartly. If they can adapt, this could be the rain-slick breakthrough the film industry didn't know it needed. Meanwhile, on the foreign policy field, R Jagannathan argues India must stop kicking the ball around passively. Modi's rapport with world leaders may look good in photo-ops, but it hasn't kept adversaries from pushing forward. As geopolitical puddles deepen (Ukraine, Gaza, China), India must build influence through strategy, not symbolism. Think of it as learning to pass not just wide, but wise. And in corporate India, the Tata Trusts have moved early to back N Chandrasekaran, like a captain handing the armband before kick-off, writes Nivedita Mookerji. This preemptive support is not just procedural, it's tactical, especially as Tata Sons faces decisions on shareholding exits and RBI-mandated listings. It's a slippery pitch, and Tata seems determined to control the midfield. Lastly, L aveesh Bhandari reviews A World in Flux: India's Economic Priorities. Essays in Honour of Shankar Acharya, a collection of essays honouring Dr Shankar Acharya, thinkers reflect on economic playbooks past and future. While celebrating Acharya's policy genius, the book, edited by Amita Batra and A K Bhattacharya, also challenges today's players to update their formations for a world where climate, inequality, and politics increasingly shape the economy.
Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business Standard
India in Flux offers up new ways to think about complex challenges ahead
Few could have played the role Shankar Acharya did-navigating political, fiscal, and global pressures with clarity and conviction Laveesh Bhandari A World in Flux: India's Economic Priorities. Essays in Honour of Shankar Acharya Edited by Amita Batra & A K Bhattacharya Published by Rupa 448 pages ₹795 Shankar Acharya is undoubtedly a unique personality. Disarmingly affable yet ruthlessly incisive, both as a policy economist and as a thought leader, he has made significant contributions to India's growth. Over a period of eight years, as the chief economic advisor, he played a pivotal role in helping shape economic policies that have propelled India from being a laggard economy to the forefront of economic growth globally. This success, no doubt, cannot be ascribed to any one
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
5 days ago
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: Landing right when the ground is full of potholes
We all know that particular moment when you're walking down a familiar lane, eyes on your phone or lost in thought, when a pothole filled with muddy water suddenly appears in your path. You don't have time to study it. There's no traffic light or warning cone. You just leap — instinctively, awkwardly, hoping to clear the splash. Sometimes, you land clean. Sometimes, you get drenched despite your best effort. But in either case, the leap is a moment of decision, a refusal to sink into something messy and unfixable. Most of us don't think of it as bravery. But really, it is: the everyday kind, shaped by necessity, uncertainty, and a deep distrust of what lies beneath the surface. Let's dive in. That's what the Supreme Court just did, vaulting back from a May judgment that had declared the Bhushan Power & Steel resolution plan illegal. In recalling that verdict, the Bench led by Chief Justice B R Gavai acknowledged not just a legal misstep, but the economic splash it had caused, of risking JSW Steel's investment of Rs 20,000 crore in investment, thousands of livelihoods, and the very credibility of the IBC, notes our first editorial. It was a leap back to stable ground, but also a reminder that the potholes, like chronic NCLT delays, still remain, waiting to trip up another resolution. And in Maharashtra, two judgments revealed deeper craters in our justice system. Eighteen years of trial in the 2006 train blasts case, only to find coerced confessions and tampered evidence. Another acquittal in the Malegaon blasts. The courts jumped, but the puddles are darker here. Victims' families and the wrongly accused alike are left drenched in delayed justice, their lives shaped by a system that's failed to dry itself off. Elsewhere, Laveesh Bhandari maps a different balancing act, between India's small-town shopkeepers and the tidal force of e-commerce. The splash here is subtle: convenience versus community, price versus people. Can policy help us leap toward a hybrid model that combines reach with resilience? That may be the trick to landing without losing our footing. Prosenjit Datta, meanwhile, cautions that India's economic path is riddled with strategic potholes: rare earth dependency, tech gaps, weak AI foundations. Until we build muscle memory for self-reliance, each new global shock will feel like slipping on familiar gravel. And Chintan Girish Modi reviews A Billion Butterflies: A Life in Climate and Chaos Theory, the story of Dr Jagadish Shukla — a scientist who leapt across continents, chaos theory, and climate politics. His memoir captures a life of graceful leaps over personal pain, global geopolitics, and scientific inertia. But as he writes, too many leaders still stand at the edge, hesitant, staring into the water, waiting. Stay tuned!
