PinnedFrom Russia With Love… Putin’s Fog of WarThe crux of the conflict is located in Vladimir Putin’s vision of Russia not as it is but as he sees it. The dare has jolted the West out of ideological ambiguity. How the #Ukraine crisis unravels will define what happens south of Taiwan Straits. By Shankkar Aiyar |Published: 20th…Ukraine5 min readUkraine5 min read
PinnedArchaic Laws Criminalise EntrepreneursThree decades Licence Raj was dismantled, Inspector Raj persists . Businesses must navigate 26,134 compliances hosting the threat of imprisonment. Enabling employment and wealth creation at the grassroots demands a recast of laws. By Shankkar Aiyar |Published: 13th February 2022 07:13 AM | ‘Useless laws weaken the necessary laws’. The…India5 min readIndia5 min read
2 days agoArtificial Intelligence: Is it the Future Hope or the Terminator?Alan Turing said “…at some stage we should have to expect the machines to take control.” That prognosis is yet in the realm of known unknowns. AI has the potential to improve the human circumstance. Equally AI can upend geopolitics, social structures, derail business models and economies. Exposure is acclerating…AI5 min readAI5 min read
May 29Electoral Math Meets Politics of EconomicsSops are effectively political flyovers deployed to overcome inadequacies in governance. The cult of taxpayer-paid promises has led to the exponential expansion of an electoral constituency dubbed as “beneficiaries” and has led to the neglect of policies necessary to correct asymmetry in socio-economic circumstances. By Shankkar Aiyar | Published: 14th…India5 min readIndia5 min read
May 28Inflation Turns Sentient, Baffles Central BanksInterest rates have been hiked at the fastest pace to decade high levels. Despite the pace and the steepness inflation persists — in every G7 economy and elsewhere — and is between two and five times the sacrosanct 2 per cent target. …Inflation5 min readInflation5 min read
May 21Middle Class Stranded in the Political MuddlePolitical discourse is bipolar in nature. Policy decisions get vetted through the prism of affiliations. Reason and the voice of the middle class are rendered mute. The middle class is trapped between rent reapers and sop seekers.The question the middle class must ask is who is gaining at whose cost! …India5 min readIndia5 min read
May 7Decoding Pawar Politics and Power OpticsRecent utterances and events brought Pawar’s felicity for political pivot under the spotlight. The tantalizing nature of #SharadPawar’s moves is that both the theories, of enabling and disabling #AjitPawar, are plausible and both could be baseless. The saga is about Maharashtra but more critically about the high stakes 2024 battle. …India5 min readIndia5 min read
Apr 26Subsidy Race, Onshoring And Higher For Longer InflationShankkar Aiyar | BQ Prime |Opinion | 24 Apr 2023, 07:46 AM IST The surge across advanced economies to onshore capacity, jobs and growth will engender inefficiencies, raise costs and worsen fragmentation. …Globalization7 min readGlobalization7 min read
Apr 23Demography: Destiny or Disaster?Effectively India today hosts more people than China in roughly one-third of the geographical area and sustains the populace on an economy which is one-sixth of China’s GDP. Can India combine the scale of its market and working age cohort to propel consumption, investment and growth? By Shankkar Aiyar |…India5 min readIndia5 min read
Apr 16Random Policy Roundabouts and the CitizenMotion is often mistaken for movement at roundabouts. They are a metaphor for the gaps afflicting public policy which stall the promise of ease of living. Why are infra projects delayed? Must Mumbai commuters wait and suffer for years for a bridge? Why are 9.6 lakh teacher posts vacant? …India5 min readIndia5 min read