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The sharp and sudden collapse of international prices of crude oil brings significant short-term gains for the Indian economy. However, in the medium and long run, the fall in oil prices has ramifications that are far from positive for this country. The windfall gains that have accrued will provide temporary relief for finance minister Arun Jaitley and will enable him to meet the fiscal deficit target in the forthcoming Union Budget for 2015-16 that will be presented in late February. However...

Two unconnected developments marked 2014 as a unique year in the history of India’s political economy. The first was the outcome of the 16th general elections, which saw a party win a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own for the first time in three decades. The second was an international phenomenon: the sudden fall in the prices of crude oil which has had an unexpected beneficial impact on the economy. However, beneath the apparently benign surface of the positive developments and the country’s...

While many perceive Atal Behari Vajpayee as among the least controversial of the political leaders who belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party and were part of its earlier avatar, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, it would be incorrect to state that Vajpayee has never had a taste of controversy since he was initiated into public life while still a student by the senior leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Balasaheb Deoras, in the late-1930s. What is not so well known is that a particular contentious...

What was unique about him was not just his gritty voice, raspy and rough as gravel. Watching him perform was an unforgettable experience. He would gesticulate with the idiosyncratic intensity of a demented person. His body would move spasmodically. Each yell of his appeared to be ripping apart not only his parched throat but his whole being. In between the screams he spewed out were exquisite strains of sheer melody — therein lay his talent and genius. He didn't compose his own songs. Nor did he...

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the first person to become prime minister of India without ever having been a member of the Congress party, has been in the political limelight for most of the past four decades. Though he was a founder member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh when it was formed in 1951, and a protege of the first president of the Jana Sangh, Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, he was first noticed on the national stage when he got elected to the Lok Sabha in 1957 from Balrampur, having failed in his...

Given the pathetic state of the Opposition in the country, it is not surprisingly that one discerns the beginning of a trend of political forces opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party coming together. While there is a certain inevitability about this trend gathering momentum in the coming years, for the time being the BJP can glibly rest assured simply because of the sharp differences that exist between and among major non-BJP political parties. With the BJP becoming the most prominent pole of...

During a discussion on his recently-published book "2014: The Election That Changed India”, senior journalist and television anchor Rajdeep Sardesai was very critical of the working of the Indian media, not only in the run-up to the general election but also because of the unquestioning attitude of many journalists who praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The discussion, organised by the book's publisher, Penguin Books India, in collaboration with the Maulana Mohamed Ali 'Jauhar' (MMAJ) Academy...