Demonetisation of five hundred and one thousand rupee notes is one of the game changers. At one stroke, tax evaders and other such people who were not keeping their wealth in gold, land or dollars were dealt a lethal blow. Some could distribute currency to their relatives or servants, but for the larger operators, this […]
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Banning of the old Indian notes of INR 500 and 1000 denomination from circulation undoubtedly cannot eradicate black economy in the country since the magnitude is estimated to be about 7 to 10 per cent only of the total black economy, notwithstanding the fuzziness in such estimates. In no time, black income gets converted into […]
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The word ” gender ” is in currency these days! Let us understand what we mean by it. We often hear boys being admonished for crying or girls being chided for climbing a tree or flying a kite because ‘boys do not cry’ or ‘girls do not climb trees or fly kites’. Interesting these boys […]
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Undoubtedly, demonetisation of currencies of certain denomination would not eradicate black economy in the country. The latter does not exist separately and distinctly from the white economy. You buy a house from me for two crore, if you register for one crore, you save on stamp duty and other taxes. I also pay less on […]
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PM Modi’s sudden announcement during the twilight hours of November 8, of banning two prime Indian notes, the Rs 500 and Rs 1000, in daily circulation, has taken the nation by storm. A step not easy to judge on its face value, with an apparent objective of eradicating black money and a parallel economy is […]
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An increasingly masculinising population has thus been a continuing historical reality in India. The first censuses by the British administration in colonial India had noted the unusually male-heavy character of the Indian population. However, in the absence of reliable statistics, it took decades for scholars to make sense of this oddity and to establish that […]
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Everyone is talking about the Delhi smog. People are increasingly becoming concerned about its ill effect on health, work and quality of life. As such, Delhi is one of the worst polluted cities in the world and conditions have worsened because of an add-on of several factors. Smog in Delhi around Diwali festivities is not […]
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Work, Women and Rituals: The Bitter ‘karwa chauth’ So what if women work? She may head her department, be the most reliable corporate manager, or constitute the pillar of a bureaucratic mission – she remains a woman and there it all ends. Even for herself! The blur between the within and the without is lessening […]
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Culling Populism The inconvenience of being human is enormous. We need lands to cultivate, homes to live, heating and cooling systems, roads and cars, factories and industries, not to mention overflowing coffers. If only our requirements were merely food, water and air, culling would have seemed preposterous and unnecessary – a waste to say the […]
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In a recent news flash, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) proposed installation of photovoltaic solar panels on the rooftops of all protected monuments. The initiative found positive coverage in several mainstream media. With solar power generation ranging from 5 to 25 MW, such power plants would supposedly bring down the power bills of such […]
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