This one deserves two accolades. One for being succinct. And the other for its aimless exploration. And yes, the latter isn't necessarily bad inspite of the negative connotations that it may strike.
A brief bio and some excellent articles on some issues, regulations and policies in India by Ashok V Desai (best known for his columns in Business Standard) can be seen here.
The book touches upon several fundamental questions around India's economy , like :
1. Is the Rationing System in India working the way it was aimed for ?
2. Why is the sugar price almost constant in countries like Britain, Germany etc. where u can buy it for the same price from the supermarket, whereas it fluctuates so much in India ?
3. How can subsidy be a recipe for corruption / black market ?
4. What are the ways to disperse this "web of deceit" so widespread in India's civil services and the government ?
5. How to enable the financial institutions to make decisions in favor of the economy and not the government ?
Economics is intricate and more than often a plaited interplay of various forces in context. The book gives some answers to these questions without the rigmarole of convoluted economics jargon. I have come to realize that the widespread corruption and red-tapism in India *partly* holds its roots to the subsidies / Government imposed restrictions in order to ensure equality and more just distribution of resources (food, shelter, employment) amongst its populace (and hence, defying their very purpose).
The social problem of corruption will take a long time to be resolved, if at all; But the book makes you think. Policies can make or mar a country's destiny and affect its people in a great way. To add to that, effective policy-making is hard -- often could be termed as a NP-hard problem. And isn't Governance incomplete if it does not include a futuristic policy-making ? Given all this, isn't it obvious that there needs to be a "minimum expertise level" obligatory to be an elected representative involved in policy-making for a nation of billions ?
" I knew a man who could not bear to look at a mountain range; it reminded him of a price chart and the fortune he had lost in speculation on stock prices".
Finance & Economics can be intimidating, but this one was a great read overall. Totally recommend to read it and enjoy the strewn witty remarks.
A brief bio and some excellent articles on some issues, regulations and policies in India by Ashok V Desai (best known for his columns in Business Standard) can be seen here.
The book touches upon several fundamental questions around India's economy , like :
1. Is the Rationing System in India working the way it was aimed for ?
2. Why is the sugar price almost constant in countries like Britain, Germany etc. where u can buy it for the same price from the supermarket, whereas it fluctuates so much in India ?
3. How can subsidy be a recipe for corruption / black market ?
4. What are the ways to disperse this "web of deceit" so widespread in India's civil services and the government ?
5. How to enable the financial institutions to make decisions in favor of the economy and not the government ?
Economics is intricate and more than often a plaited interplay of various forces in context. The book gives some answers to these questions without the rigmarole of convoluted economics jargon. I have come to realize that the widespread corruption and red-tapism in India *partly* holds its roots to the subsidies / Government imposed restrictions in order to ensure equality and more just distribution of resources (food, shelter, employment) amongst its populace (and hence, defying their very purpose).
The social problem of corruption will take a long time to be resolved, if at all; But the book makes you think. Policies can make or mar a country's destiny and affect its people in a great way. To add to that, effective policy-making is hard -- often could be termed as a NP-hard problem. And isn't Governance incomplete if it does not include a futuristic policy-making ? Given all this, isn't it obvious that there needs to be a "minimum expertise level" obligatory to be an elected representative involved in policy-making for a nation of billions ?
" I knew a man who could not bear to look at a mountain range; it reminded him of a price chart and the fortune he had lost in speculation on stock prices".
Finance & Economics can be intimidating, but this one was a great read overall. Totally recommend to read it and enjoy the strewn witty remarks.
