Passionate About India

I have written about these earlier too and I think the time is ripe to repeat the same. These are India’s biggest economic issues, yet, despite some voices here and there, nothing is being done about them on a red alert scale. Yes, I am talking about black money and corruption and how our politicians, hand in hand with bureaucrats and businessmen, have placed us at a shameful position with respect to these. If BJP really needs a unique differentiator to convince the electorate, then rather than just focusing on the economic development agenda, they should necessarily spearhead the fight against black money and corruption and not be just another voice speaking against these issues. I collate out here various statistics that I’ve mentioned in some of previous editorials too, and you’ll see how pathetic India’s situation has become with respect to black money. As per various reports, the amount of black money stashed abroad by Indians is approximately $1450 billion, the largest in the wo...

The Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) is gradually morphing into a non-credible and tainted agency. It won’t be long before the CBI is deemed as a “club of politically manipulated officers and a spineless department”. The sudden and completely unexpected closure of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s disproportionate asset case some days back (the CBI claims that his CAs were able to explain how the assets grew so phenomenally in the 12 years leading to 2005 because of loans given by relatives that were claimed to be gifts) is just one instance that proves this fact. Of course, this move from CBI (that its director Ranjit Sinha claims followed a “transparent” check. “We are being very transparent about all cases including this and are ready to stand any legal scrutiny,” said he to the press) coincides with Yadav extending his political hands to the ruling government, and the lack of proper investigation in the 2G Spectrum and Commonwealth Games (CWG) corruption cases...

I am almost one hundred percent sure when I write this that the budget, which our honourable finance minister is going to present before the Parliament next month, is going to be a hugely populist one. Although nothing different from other previous budgets – which were more of political rhetoric than anything else – this time, it is different. This time, it is more of a compulsion for the UPA, which is finding itself cornered with respect to untamable inflation on the one hand, and equally unbeatable corruption cases and scams on the other. Ever since it has come to power in 2004, UPA has never been in such a position ever. A never-ending series of scams that eroded crores of rupees not only tainted the UPA’s political image, but also dented their performance ratings in a big way. If the CWG scam dented the global image of the government – where crores were siphoned-off and the infrastructure promised never came to shape – then the 2G scam broke all records of corruption. As per conser...