gdp's Comments

Retributions : Sen Here and There

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 19:33:27 +0000

Anunay I completely agree. I mean in India we still can't agree that the government has no business running 5 star hotels. I doubt that Krugman/Friedman debates are very relevant in the Indian case.

Retributions : Obama and Reforms

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 16:32:03 +0000

Span

Sent from my iPhone

Retributions : Analyzing the UP Results-1

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 04:54:50 +0000

The general elections work out different from state elections. Primarily, Congress has been outperforming its state level performance in the national level elections. We will discuss this in greater detail in the next post.

Retributions : Trust the Poor!

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 07:57:16 +0000

next time, try writing a coherent comment.

Retributions : The Lost Art of Dissent

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:52:55 +0000

Thanks. Corrected that.

Retributions : Why Keeping A Raja is Good Politics

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:14:08 +0000

I will be very happy if the Indian voter proves me wrong and provides the correct incentives on corruption.

Retributions : On the Commonwealth Games

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 15:48:16 +0000

Reference few islands of poverty: That was an error. I guess it was corrected sometime right after you posted this. In any case that should be clear from the context it self. For the rest. Okay let's start: You advocate development should be redefined. Kindly explain? Btw, some may that argument for US too that it is no more than a giant market for Chinese goods..

Retributions : The Reservation Debate-Part 2

Wed, 12 May 2010 18:00:25 +0000

Dear Shivam, a) I personally find caste abhorrent but if we are going to have caste-driven reservations, then caste-census is essential. b) Please note: The caste census is only the first step. The second and the most important step is to classify who is an OBC, and then ensure the list is revised periodically and reflects geographical variations. Btw, what difference does it make to you? Not that you have cared much about data, ever. You already just knew...

Retributions : Twitter-Gate?

Sat, 1 May 2010 04:11:43 +0000

Thanks for the feedback! Was posted in a hurry but no excuses.

Retributions : Twitter-Gate?

Sat, 1 May 2010 04:10:53 +0000

You raise a fair point. However, the only answer to that can be more discourse. If we have enough number of people then it would be harder for falsehoods to spread. I understand the filter argument has its benefits in terms of bunch of disinterested professionals parsing through news and giving us the true story but I am skeptical how it plays out in real life. Everyone has their own interests, afterall.

Retributions : Mr. Tharoor and Maywati-Part 2

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:56:15 +0000

Thanks, everyone who pointed the two mistakes. It has been corrected.

Retributions : The Naked Secularist

Wed, 7 Apr 2010 06:48:42 +0000

Jai, Allow me to further expand my point. When I say partially succeeded in the political process, what I mean is failure. In my opinion, whoever presides over a state when such riots happen---whether due to sins of commission or omission----should lose elections. Unfortunately, it has not happened. Neither in case of Rajiv Gandhi or Sharad Pawar or Narendra Modi. Nevertheless, that Modi's rise as a national leader has been stymied by the riots is something which gladdens my hear. For politicians are driven by incentives. We encourage bad behavior as voters and that is what we will get. What you allude to as conversation between Jaafri and Modi is part of the legal process. Now, whether Modi is guilty by legal standards is not to be judged by me but by the Courts. SIT is a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, as a voter, I would not vote for him based on the political price principal. However, I would still defend his right to due process of law. As I have done in case of terrorists or anyone else for that matter. Unfortunately, the political and legal process is often confused. Something to guard against.

Retributions : The Naked Secularist

Tue, 6 Apr 2010 19:01:56 +0000

Jai, frankly, speaking, I am not really interested in what conversations Modi had. What I am interested is in process---both political and legal. The political process in case of Modi has only partially succeeded; he has won elections in Gujarat but his appeal outside the state is limited. Note, this does not require Modi to be actively complicit in Gujarat riots but merely the fact that he presided over the state at that tine should be enough to pay the political price. The legal process is a parallel but separate debate where the axiom innocent unless proven guilty must be respected. Unfortunately, a lot of people are not prepared to do that. This is not very different from people of different ideological persuasion who think that every terror suspect caught must be summarily shot. Reflect on that please. It is a case of sacrificing legal principles because the accused does not reflect your world view. You do a disservice to this blog by thinking we conflate Modi with national interest. Modis will come and go; India that is the nation-state has survived for thousands of years and will hopefully, survive all of us!

Retributions : Mr. Modi's Troubles

Mon, 5 Apr 2010 19:46:11 +0000

I will grant you that there is an overlap between Right-of-center in India and Hinduvtavadis. That is nature of the beast. There are some areas of agreement; on others like Modi perhaps we can agree to disagree. On the other hand, there are lot of other folks who also come to INI; they may not participate in comments threads but they are there. Just check out Pragati or Takshashila. So yes, I would say we are pretty happy with what we have achieved. Remember, none of this do it full time. Yet.

Retributions : Mr. Modi's Troubles

Sat, 3 Apr 2010 16:05:04 +0000

I am suggesting that a better administrator faces automatic greater scrutiny. I am not saying that is desirable but at the end of the day people are more unforgiving of deliberate in-action vis-a-vis administrative failure. I have no problem with the legal process being completed before Modi is criminally indicted or declared innocent per legal standards. I was talking here of the political process which is different. As far as 1984 riots are concerned, Balaji is exactly right. Just like a cabal of "activists" have gone after Modi for last 8 years and relentlessly sustained the pressure on him, a similar scrutiny would have been desirable for 1984. Unfortunately, a lot of activists are not interested in that because 1984 is not a riot which particularly concerns them. In that case, it is the job of those who feel that while Rahiv Gandhi was let off unfairly while Modi is targeted excessively to make that point. And that will require a lot of hard work especially because of limited media and intellectual interest in crimes of non-BJP parties. But merely declaring something unfair achieves little. If BJP was really interested in punishing the perpetuators of 1984, they had 6 years to make the legal and political case. What did they do?

Retributions : Mr. Modi's Troubles

Sat, 3 Apr 2010 15:58:15 +0000

What I refer to is the fact that the TV media was there to cover the riots. Reading about something on newspapers and actually seeing it on television has a different effect on people's psyche. As far the Mumbai attack is concerned, check the archives. Unless I am supposed to write the definitive history of everything wrong which has happened in India in every article---an impossible task, as you would surely concur---I am not sure why would you call it silence.

Retributions : Mr. Modi's Troubles

Fri, 2 Apr 2010 20:13:04 +0000

Narendra, Fair point. But I think two points are important here: a) Modi's administrative efficiency makes him a bigger target because unlike many other CM's the usual excuse of administrative lethargy does not apply to him. b) These were perhaps India's first televised riots; that makes a difference compared to something which happened in 1969 and may be confined to dusty old newspapers.

Retributions : Mr. Modi's Troubles

Fri, 2 Apr 2010 20:10:51 +0000

I am not sure who you hold guilty of massive suppression of facts because I clearly wrote that I believe Delhi riots were worse. As for Mr Vardrajan's political leanings, I don't think that is pertinent here---we can all agree that riots are bad irrespective of which side of the political spectrum we fall on. As far as the numbers are concerned, I am not sure you are factually correct because the number of Muslims killed in post-Goadhara riots were much higher than Hindus though unlike what a lot of political commentators claim a lot of rioters---mostly Hindus---did die in police firing. As far as the political price is concerned, just because someone may not have paid it in the past, does not make it desirable. In fact, that was precisely the price. Your general comments about other activists e.t.c. are not pertinent to this debate. I have criticiszed Teesta in other columns on this blog---where it made sense.

Retributions : On Rao and Nehru-Gandhis

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:25:32 +0000

Thanks! Corrected! It as Friday night. :)

Retributions : The Cat is Out of the Bag

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:15:20 +0000

Sorry. I had forgotten to link to it. Corrected.