Policy Wise

In an interesting post at the Indian Economy blog, Dweep argues that India shouldn’t oppose agricultural subsidies extended by Western countries to their farmers. He offers two main reasons for his argument a) subsidies keep prices low thus benefiting the Indian consumers b) the debate on subsidies shifts the focus away from the failure of [...]

As part of its efforts to celebrate the 60th anniversary of India’s independence, DNA requested me to write an article on India and intellectual property. For those interested, it can be found here. I’ve also copied it below.
I’ve advocated in this article that the Novartis patent case be permitted to run its course and the [...]

(Co-authored with fellow Policy Wise contributor Pratik)

Back in the days when Doordarshan ruled the airwaves, if you tuned in during the weather forecast, you wouldn’t be completely off the mark if you thought that India’s urban regions comprised solely of Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras – conveniently located in four corners of [...]

The parliamentary committee on higher education has suggested the introduction of graduate tax in India,
Parliament’s standing committee on HRD ministry has recommended taxing students who take up overseas jobs after graduating from premier higher education institutions and their employers as well. [link]
The committee has made two curious observations. First, the said tax [...]

In a column in The Times of India, Gurcharan Das calls for freeing schools in India from government control and regulations,
A dear friend of mine has grown weary. He runs five schools in the slums of Delhi, which provide a fine education to 13,500 poor children with 250 motivated teachers. But his [...]

 (Admin note: This is a guest post by Pragmatic)
The term itself is a misnomer in many ways. Which transport system in India is not public? The ubiquitous auto rickshaw is used as a “hop-in and hop-out” coach in many parts of India, operating with a fixed tariff rate on predetermined routes. In Udaipur (Rajasthan), a [...]

Doordarshan, India’s national broadcaster has plans to launch a health channel. It is ostensibly meant to help medical students in India. The annual cost: 180 crores. The government will amend the Cable Television Netowrks(regulation) Act of 1995 to make it compulsory for cable operators to carry the channel.
However, merely forcing the cable operators to carry [...]

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has warned that climate change can lead to decrease in food production in India,
Climate change is likely to trigger a “risk of hunger” in India by affecting cereal production by as much as 18% because of floods and droughts, a UN agency has warned.Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said India [...]

Recently, Libiya had released Belgian doctors accused of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV. While the rest of the world has largely been skeptical of Libyan claims, largely due to its political leadership, Harriet A Washington points out why these fears are well founded,
Africa has harbored a number of high-profile Western medical miscreants who [...]

(Admin note: This is the second and concluding part of Sakshi’s series on adoption in India. )

A safe, happy home is the best environment for a child to grow and develop. As clichéd as it may sound, India’s future lies in her children. However, with millions of poor, undernourished and abandoned children, India needs a [...]