South Asia
Education and the State: Seeking Balance
The failure of India’s primary education system deserves a solution. Yet, privatization is neither necessary, nor sufficient, and cannot be embarked upon without debating the desired balance between quality and equity.
India and the Politics of Climate Change
India would benefit from a collective response to global warming, but in the short term a unilateral strategy of high emissions growth is better. How can India ensure the optimal outcome?
Two Approaches to Improving Education
India has announced major investments in education. Given the scale of needs, the government rightly believes in focusing on well-tested methodologies, rather than on risky bets such as the OLPC.
Why Walmart is Welcome: The Agro-Retail Revolution in India
The WSJ Asia is carrying an article (Metro’s new system produces India growth, subscribers only) that outlines how Metro, amongst others, is (re)inventing the agricultural supply chain in India:
Metro is the first Western retailer to tackle a fundamental problem facing Wal-mart and other retailers trying to enter India today: how to stock their huge supercenter [...]
Concluding The Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Moving Beyond Blame
All hell has broken loose in the Indian parliament since the 123 Agreement was concluded between India and the USA. Following its conclusion the UPA government faces rebellion from the Left (the communists), the right (the BJP), and within. The imbroglio has been sufficiently covered in both domestic and international media, and seems to the [...]
Interview with Benazir Bhutto
YaleGlobal Online is carrying an interview (full transcript)with Benazir Bhutto, on her (not so) secret discussions with Musharraf earlier this year. For Indians it makes interesting reading on two counts.
First, she talks of abandoning a policy of “strategic depth” in Pakistan, as a hedge against Indian influence. Instead:
She said that she rejected the policy of [...]
The Case to Stay in Iraq - From India’s Partition
Sixty years after the British created India and Partition, the Irish and British are reflecting on what they left behind. No doubt, there is much self-congratulation amongst the English for a successful India - though their positive legacy is highly dubious. But The Independent (from Ireland) sees wider implications of the history that followed partition:
The documentation [...]
Inequality in the US: India’s Choice
I have written a lot recently on inequality - in India and in Asia. The basic point has been the same - that inequality is bad from a social and moral point, but (as the ADB argues in its report on Asia) also from an economic point of view. In the same vien I pulled [...]
