Land in India is problematic largely because of archaic and perverse provisions in the practice and the law. The new Land Acquisition Amendment Bill does go some way to correct the anti-democratic and imperial provisions of the old 1894 Act. Other regulatory restraints stand in the way of fair...

Multilateral agencies and economists with much influence have been urging laissez-faire in agriculture. While success with the rich countries has been minimal despite the commitments under the WTO, many poor countries with much agricultural potential in the long run have been coaxed to adopt...

We bring out the fundamental and more important problems with the current framework of land acquisition in India, regulations on land and the functioning of land markets. We argue that reform is overdue and the current framework would be unsustainable in a democracy that is India. Current land...

In this paper an analytical critique of the law and restrictions as also of the framework of urban planning and a justification for why major change is required in the approach to land markets, land acquisition and urban planning is provided. They also provide the key elements of a reformed...

Multilateral agencies and economists with much influence have been urging laissez-faire in agriculture. While success with the rich countries has been minimal despite the commitments under the WTO, many poor countries with much agricultural potential in the long run have been coaxed to adopt...

This paper discusses the stylised problems relating to water and irrigation in India and argues tht most of the inefficeincies, misuse and environmental damage have their roots in the mispricing of water and electricity. Since the only kind of subsidies thus far used are price based input...

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, a large Indian public enterprise in the power sector, has been successful in judiciously blending technology imports and indigenisation. Through the mid-1970s and 1980s, it has progressively increased its ability not only to search for, bargain and purchase...

Growth rates of regions (states) have generally followed the national level growth rates over time with small lags or leads. We find much coherence between the aggregate performance of regions over time and that of the nation, so that the periodization at the national level is also useful at the...

Container movement by rail was a monopoly of Indian Railways (IR) until 2005. Its subsidiary Container Corporation (CONCOR) was the sole operator of container trains. Entry of other entities in 2007 has been driven by larger public policy concerns. In the process, issues such as incumbent...

Over the last year and a half, the real value of the rupee has been going up. Neither the government in its budget or otherwise, nor the RBI, seems to be concerned about the deleterious effects of the same on export growth. Both government and the RBI plan to strive for capital account...