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Business Standard
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: Ghosts return when we forget why they were banished
There's a superstition in every family. Some refuse to say the name of a dead relative who brought more harm than good. Some keep a room locked, an old letter unread, a photograph hidden behind a newer one. Not because they want to forget, but because they want to remember right. That is because a ghost must be remembered, precisely so it is not counted among the living and allowed to raise hell again. Let's dive in. On the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, the unnamed ghost is easy to see. June 25, 1975 was not merely a date, it was a descent into sanctioned silence. With habeas corpus gone, opposition crushed, and media blinded, the darkness was not just metaphorical. As memories fade, so too does vigilance. Yet, as our first editorial notes, the legal aftershocks lasted until 2017. The Emergency was not a one-off horror but a recurring lesson in how institutions like the courts, press, and even Parliament, can be turned against the people they are meant to serve. Meanwhile, another spectre lurks in the form of India's demographic dividend. Our second editorial cautions: the window opened in 2019 when the population between 15 and 64 began to dominate the number of children and the elderly, but time is ticking. Without high growth, skilled labour, and meaningful reform in health and education, our advantage could rot into a liability. Like a ghost that once offered promise, but now rattles chains of regret. A K Bhattacharya shows how the Centre's approach to public sector undertakings is shaped by ghosts of past policies, shifting from privatisation dreams to PSU-led capital expenditure. While this approach powered post-Covid recovery, it may not remain sustainable without new funding sources. And in Debarpita Roy's column, the spectre is social exclusion. The PMAY scheme works in small towns, but in India's largest cities, EWS housing plans are haunted by delays, poor design, and worse demand. Until cities prioritise serviced plots and rental reforms over distant, vertical ghettos, the urban poor will remain stuck in the ghost neighbourhoods of failed intentions. Finally, in Kanika Datta's review of 1945: The Reckoning: War, Empire and the Struggle for a New World, the ghost is colonial hypocrisy. Phil Craig revisits WWII's end not as a heroic Allied victory, but a cynical return to empire-building. While flawed in rigour, the book still reminds us that many post-war promises were buried alive, not fulfilled.
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Business Standard
17-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
A K Bhattacharya's third book on India's FMs captures the post-reform era
Typically, by the third sequel, authors tend to lose energy, but not A K Bhattacharya. He enjoys reporting the joys and pains of India's finance ministers too much premium Laveesh Bhandari Listen to This Article India's Finance Ministers III: Different Strokes (1998–2014) by A K Bhattacharya Published by Penguin Business 556 pages ₹999 Titled India's Finance Ministers: Different Strokes (1998-2014), this volume does exactly what the previous two in the same series did, but over some of the most interesting years of modern Indian economic history. The style remains the same: Non-judgemental and clinical, yet not critical. Perhaps there would be another where the author does not shy away from judgement or critique, but for now, he is simply a raconteur and not an analyst. The period 1998 to 2014 is unarguably critical; the reforms of the
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Business Standard
10-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Perils of overestimates: Balancing deficit targets with accurate estimates
The sharp downward revision in personal income-tax collections for 2024-25 was perhaps one of the main reasons for the government applying the brakes on its revenue expenditure premium A K Bhattacharya Listen to This Article Is there a sense of déjà vu in the recently released provisional actual numbers for the Union Budget for 2024-25? These numbers were made public at the end of last month. A quick comparison of these provisional actual numbers with the revised estimate (RE) for 2024-25 shows that the problem of revenue overestimation has resurfaced — after a welcome break of four years. Note that the RE of the Union Budget for a financial year is released about two months before that year ends. This release coincides with the presentation of the following year's Budget. Thus, the RE of the
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Business Standard
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: From classrooms to capitals, India is in prep mode
There's a certain anticipation in the kitchen when you've turned on the stove, added the oil, maybe even tossed in the mustard seeds, but the real cooking hasn't begun. You're there, apron on, spatula ready, waiting for something to bubble, sizzle, transform. And in that quiet moment of in-between, you realise this isn't just about food. Things are heating up, shifts are underway, intentions are declared, but the meal, the impact, the endgame, it's still simmering. Let's dive in. Take the Centre's proposal to double the deposit insurance limit. On paper, it's a solid step towards securing people's savings, especially with digital banking making money feel more ghost than metal. But until this idea gets through regulation, implementation, and bank compliance, we're still in prep mode, notes our first editorial. The flame's on, the ingredients are in place, but depositor trust is a dish that takes time and more than just 'insurance.' Then there's the CBSE's latest directive: 'sugar boards' in schools to warn children about the sweet poison hiding in every cola, cereal, and birthday cake. It's well-meaning, even commendable. But without holistic changes like sports facilities, healthier meals, and empowered teachers, it risks becoming a poster without a punch, argues our second editorial. You can't reduce a health crisis to a chart on a wall. The dough needs kneading, not just display. A K Bhattacharya writes about India's FDI numbers and it's another example of heat without flavour. Record gross inflows, yet a collapse in net investment. Foreign money is flowing in, sure, but it's also flowing out just as fast, like a leaking pot. And Indian firms? They're cooking abroad, leaving the home kitchen cold. Something's missing in the domestic recipe, and we better find out what. Meanwhile, Deepak Mishra notes that India's diplomatic stew is back on the boil, this time over the IMF's loan to Pakistan. India smells bias, even hypocrisy. And while we've started talking about strategy and reform, our presence in global institutions still feels undercooked. Influence isn't just about being in the room, it's about seasoning the soup. Even in the private space of homes, Gyanendra Pandey's Men At Home: Imagining Liberation in Colonial and Postcolonial India, reviewed by Ashwini Deshpande, reminds us that transformation has only begun. Patriarchal norms around domestic labour have been simmering for centuries, but the fire hasn't cracked them open yet. Men's absence in the kitchen isn't just literal, it's metaphorical. Stay tuned!
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Business Standard
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: Defining moves in foreign policy, travel, and memory
You know that sound? That one deliberate whack when a carpenter fixes a nail with finality. Not the first cautious tap, nor the adjusting thumps in between but the thud that says, 'It's done. No going back.' It echoes in the everyday, a wobbly signboard being fixed, a loose step being secured. And yet lately, it seems to resound everywhere. From Himalayan passes to Delhi's war rooms, decisions, identities, and legacies are being hammered into place. Let's dive in. Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new counter-terror doctrine. In his national address on Monday, he didn't hedge. He declared 'Operation Sindoor' as a new line in the sand, that India will strike beyond borders if terror returns, reject nuclear threats, and treat Pakistan's state and its terrorists as one and the same. This isn't rhetorical posturing, notes our first editorial. It's a policy, fixed into place with the steel of fighter jets and the weight of 26 Indian lives lost in Pahalgam. His message? Terror and talks can't co-exist. The nail has been driven in. Meanwhile, the government is also forging something less headline-grabbing but equally ambitious, a National Manufacturing Mission. It aims to finally make 'Make in India' real by supporting MSMEs, cutting red tape, and investing in clean-tech and quality, highlights our second editorial. It's an attempt to reset decades of industrial policy that never quite held. If successful, this mission might be what finally anchors India's manufacturing share closer to 25 per cent of GDP. But fresh conflict on the border has fiscal consequences. As A K Bhattacharya explains, history shows that wars rattle deficit targets. This time too, the government may have to trade its fiscal glide path for ramped-up defence spending. With excess GST cess and RBI transfers offering cushioning, there's room for careful slippage. But make no mistake, the budget screws will tighten, and choices will be nailed down. One place that feels future-facing amid this turbulence? Airports. Jayant Sinha charts how DigiYatra, India's biometric travel ID system, is quietly transforming air travel. Opt-in, privacy-safe, and now at 13 airports — it's an infrastructure win hammered into our everyday lives with tech and trust, not force. And in High Altitude Heroines, reviewed by Chintan Girish Modi, we meet four women who, a century ago, broke ground and rules to map the Himalayas. Their journeys, though flawed through colonial lenses, remind us that some frontiers are conquered not with guns or GDP but with stubborn, solo willpower. Stay tuned!
