Everything For India !

The Indian Economy grew at just 7.2% in the first half of the financial year 2015-16, while it grew at 7.3% in the entire financial year of 2014-15. The economic growth remained flat in the 19 months of the Modi Government There are four key components which contribute to aggregate demand growth-the most visible symptom of economic health – private consumption, private investment, government investment (focusing on government expenditure) and exports. Unlike the boom years 2004-12 where the economy was driven by all four components of demand, the striking difference about this year is that the economy is driven only by private consumption and to an extent by government investment. The two other factors of ‘private investment’ and ‘exports’ have remained sluggish leading to a drag in growth. Private Consumption: Private consumption has been the bright spot in the economy. This has been emphasized in the‘Mid-Year Economic Analysis’ recently released by the Ministry of Finance...

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s approach towards Pakistan swings like a wild pendulum. They make hawkish statements when out of power and cuddle the neighbour with an impromptu hug when in power- without imagining the repercussions of either. The recent ‘sudden’ halt by the Prime Minister in Lahore while coming back from Kabul is another such addition to the motion of this swinging pendulum. Home Minister Rajnath Singh has hailed this ‘stop-over’ by the PM as an example of “innovative diplomacy” and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has called the PM ‘statesman like”. But hardly of the two are true. Flashback June 2015, when the Foreign Minister on record stated that there will be no talks with Pakistan as long as Zaki-ur-rehman Lakhvi or Hafiz Sayeed (both master minds of the Mumbai 26/11 attack) remain free. Then come July and the BJP’s spokespersons were claiming victory after the Ufa talks of the ‘big breakthrough’ on terror related talks. This was nothing new. In a Joint Stat...

“A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind” The National Herald Case is a vicious cocktail of political vendetta, assault on institutions and subverting federalism. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term ‘Vendetta’ as “ a very long and violent fight between two families or groups ” or “ a series of acts done by someone over a long period of time to cause harm to a disliked person or group ”.  Political vendetta, simply put is a fight between two political parties. It is no secret that when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat he made sure that anyone who raised a voice against him be crushed- be it his own party men like Keshubhai Patel or Haren Pandya or Sanjay Joshi; or be it the opposition. He even did not spare the constituents of his own Sangh Parivar like VHP’s Praveen Togadia. There is a legal aspect to the National Herald, but more importantly there is a deeper political aspect which...