Archive for October, 2007
What Price for Saving India’s ‘Sweatshop children’?
The Telegraph reported yesterday that police in Delhi had closed a sweatshop factory at the “centre of a scandal involving US clothing giant Gap.” This followed a story and a sting operation by a media outlet showing the factory illegally employed children (Gap had subcontracted work from this factory). The international NGO “Global March Against [...]
Burma and the Democratization of Global Politics
Burma has lately been relegated to the op-ed pages, yet news continues to trickle out of the country. The US has continued to tighten sanctions on the junta’s generals, and simultaneously, calls for India and China to pressure the military continue to grow.
For some, the Burmese conflict is seen as a watershed for China’s future role [...]
A Eulogy for the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, a Praise for Manmohan
Time Magazine just released what can only be described as a eulogy for the much hyped Indo-US nuclear deal. Most western media outlets have concluded that the deal is now as good as dead. And that may well be. When Manmohan Singh said earlier this month that putting the deal on hold “would not be [...]
Inequality, Globalization, and Economic Growth
YaleGlobal’s Bardhan suggests China and India’s poverty reduction miracle may have less to do with economic growth and globalization than previously thought.
Al Gore Does Not Deserve the Nobel Peace Prize
The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for creating “an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming.” And what does this have to do with peace?
What is the World Bank Good For?
The Wall Street Journal is carrying a detailed piece describing how the World Bank has “winked at bribery, and worse” in projects in India, but particularly Cambodia. I thought it worth reproducing here for three reasons. First, because the WSJ is not standard fare in the development community. Second, because the article is scathing in [...]
The Economist on Private Sector Quotas
For over a year controversy has raged in India over government plans to extend quotas - India’s version of affirmative action for the lower castes - to the private sector. The plans raised the hackles of many, and for the first time led to questioning the real effectiveness of quotas. Now, the Economist has weighed [...]
