The manufacturing indices, which appeared to be positive till last month, turned negative, killing all joy espoused by optimists. Loans continued to pile up. The RBI maintained its stance. And interest rates didn´t ease off enough to make an impact in a debt-burdened commercial sector. The government is still struggling to get its Land Bill […]
June 25 will be remembered as a red-letter day in the history of urban India as three mission programmes with a huge spend were launched, all backed by India’s dynamic Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Smart Cities, AMRUT and ‘Housing for All’. The depth of these programmes can be gauged from the detailing in the guidelines […]
On the completion of his first year in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to all citizens and presented his case. The media extensively assessed the Government´s performance too. Generally, the verdict was that ´not enough has been done´ – yet everyone recognised that the fruits for such labour take a while to ripen. […]
As news of the disaster caused by the 7.9-Richter magnitude earthquake hit news channels, my focus shifted back to the vulnerability of our structures. India has been besieged by earthquakes every few years since 1991—before that, the notable one was in 1975. In recent times, the biggest one was the 9.1-magnitude quake near Sumatra islands […]
While addressing a private gathering recently, Union Minister of Power Piyush Goyal referred to the common disdain and complaint heard in corners of corporate boardrooms about the slow pickup of the economy: “Boss, there is no action on the ground!” He narrated that when the NDA set about seeking a tender for street lighting using […]
The Land Acquisition Act has been constantly running into rough political weather every now and then. And if the government caves into the loud opposition demands, many infrastructure projects (including smart cities, rural electrification programmes and industrial corridors, to list a few) will be stuck in limbo. However, the solution lies in turning the idea […]
One of the highlights of Barrack Obama’s visit to the recently concluded Indian visit was the stress that Obama laid upon recognising the focus that PM Modi laid on enhancing the ‘ease of doing business’ quotient in India. PM Modi has not only made this his mission but has also made an international commitment in […]
The problem with solutions is that solutions need to be measured for effectiveness of resolution. When solutions are taken as gospel answers, problems do not disappear. They remain and lurk in the shadows. Green ratings are similar solutions that seem like gospel answers to the energy guzzle by high rises.´What can´t be measured can´t be […]
Surprisingly, ever since Anil Swarup became head of the Projects Monitoring Group (PMG) under the Cabinet Committee of Investment, he has not gotten the attention he deserved. When we invited him to speak on the progress made by the PMG at an ´INFRASTRUCTURE TODAY´ conference, he was the first one to walk into the conference […]
The next three to four months will be, in a sense, most painful as while the sentiment seems to have improved, it would not be reflected in demonstrably higher sales and profits. So businesses will have to put on a happy face and yet suffer the last leg of the financial squeeze as the economy […]