Mr. Prime Minister, I will try my level best

A couple of hours ago, I happened to watch our Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, address the nation. Given the spate of criticism faced by the government in the wake of corruptions and controversial reforms, the public at large felt an address to the nation was long due. Even his self-proclaimed “khamoshi” (silence) that was meant to save the “aabroo” (dignity) of the corruption laden nexus of corporates and politicians, wasn’t successful at all.

These are some of my observations from the PM’s address to the nation. Before you proceed, I would request you to either go through the text of the speech or the video so that we can have a more meaningful discussion.

FDI in retail: "Modern" solutions to "old" problems?

The government of India is patting its back as by the passing of the much awaited "FDI in multi-brand retail", some experts believe that the reforms are back on track. In this blog, I don’t intend to discuss the criticality of the reform rather my focus will be on the efficacy of this reform. With the issue increasingly being politicized across the nation, let’s try to see whether this reform really aims at solving issues esp. inflation, which a common man faces. Will the benefits percolate to aam aadmi or will, once again, the crème-de-la-crème in the metros only share the spoils?