View Articles

Forty years ago, when India was still a closed economy, Dr Pratap Reddy set up country’s first private corporate hospital on Greams Road, Chennai in 1983. It was a gleaming, multi-specialty space built for comfort and state-of-the-art health care--- very different from the functional trust – run and missionary-run hospitals in urban India then, a world away from the rather dysfunctional, over stressed, under-staffed government hospitals that most of the RICH urban middle class avoided as if they did not exist.

India’s fiscal budget is not merely a statement of account, but also a short term economic policy. Media hailed, domestic investors were exhilarated with greater tax exemptions to middle income groups and bagful fiscal gifts to agriculture sector. Both are the major contributors to vote bank. The next general election is in 2024.

Doublespeak is now a part and parcel of politics. Though it has come to stay it is yet find the nod of the common man whose vote brings about regime change. But it turned up like a bad penny in the shape of carving out more than one state from another and a view point opposed to it both emanating from BJP even as the date of a ding dong poll battle for Tripura inches closer.

Further hikes in steel prices are in the offing as upside risks in the global markets have strengthened in recent weeks. Faced with a decline in global production, manufacturers across the world are raising their prices.

‘Hindu-versus-Hindutva’, and the ‘casteism’ that plagues Hindu society are the issues for the 2023 9-states’ assembly elections, as well as for the 2024 general elections. Ask people from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and they will agree. Especially after the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. It does not need rocket science, but Gandhi’s newly acquired political acumen to read the political situation has established this fait accompli.

It is for the first time in the history of the RSS, the proponent of politics and philosophy of Hindutva, that it has come out in the favour of a capitalist. The reason is simple: to protect the interest of its political front, the BJP, and its public face, Narendra Modi. The RSS has been compelled to stand by Gautam Adani as the explosive revelations by the US-based Hindenburg Research group has shaken the electoral foundation of the BJP, endangering its expansion plans. The RSS leadership, especially the coterie close to its chief Mohan Bhagwat, is aware of the fact once the B JP is out of power, the RSS would cease to exist.

While policies and institutional arrangements aimed at intensification and growth of the Indian agriculture sector are inevitable for the livelihoods and food security of the country’s vast population, the inclusion of land-constrained farmers especially women, therein requires certain fundamental changes in the approaches.

The courts of the land should watch their words. The Supreme Court, especially. The top court cannot utter words that put a question mark on its integrity and its motives. More than any entity, the topmost court must be responsible. Observations such as “there is no room for hate crimes based on religion in a secular country” while great sounding are inherently flawed. There cannot be room for hate crimes in any sort of country, secular or religious.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is no mean achievement. Despite the heavy odds against it, Kerala’s economy has registered a strong recovery in 2021-22 with the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) posting a 12.01 per cent.

The Budget Session of Parliament began on January 31 and will continue till April 6. While taxation policies continue to be a top concern for the aam aadmi in the Union budget, this article examines the Union government’s track record of upholding assurances given in the Parliament.