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Can Lokpal Bill and AAP Remove Corruption?

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The Indian government passed the popular anti-corruption Lokpal bill recently, and the anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party is now in power in New Delhi. Many people are thinking that these two developments in the Indian polity will now help remove corruption. But, is it so? Can Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party fulfill its election promises? Can they fulfill everyone's demands? I answer these questions in my latest economic report below. Loop Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) - % Smart Buffer Estimated Time: Will start buffering when initialized. Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences Loop Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) - % Smart Buffer Estimated Time: Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences Loop Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) - % Smart Buffer Estimated Time: Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences ...

RBI is Toying with Peoples' Lives

Last Wednesday the Indian central bank RBI, according to media language, surprised the markets by keeping its policy rates unchanged despite growing inflationary pressure in the Indian economy. Both WPI (Wholesale Price Index) and CPI (Consumer Price Index) are rising again; RBI's tone was also mostly anti-inflationary before the policy announcement, but they still kept the rates unchanged. As I am saying since quite long time, to see the impact of RBI's policies on the economy, we should not focus on what RBI is saying, but what they are actually doing; We must focus on their actions . On one side when they are talking about taking a tough stance against inflation, they actually continue to inflate! Raghuram Rajan is trying to manage the inflation expectations while at the same time creating more inflation. This happens because his mainstream economic theory defines inflation as a persistent increase in the general price level . Rise in price is not inflation, but an effe...

Indian Assembly Election Analysis

So, the so-called semi-final round of the 2014 Lok Sabha election finally ended yesterday. The results are out for all five state assembly elections. What do these results indicate? Following is my brief analysis. First, the defeat of Congress party in Rajashthan and Delhi constituencies shows how frustrated voters were against the incumbent rulers in these states. The ruling UPA coalition, lead by the Congress party, is involved into myriad of political corruption scandals since last few years, which possibly have angered voters against its rule in these states. The sign of this anger was visible in Delhi election where anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal's AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) won total 28 seats in its debut itself. The rise of AAP is now posing a big political threat to both Congress and BJP. What was interesting in Delhi election is, that there was a three way fight between Congress, BJP and AAP, and most of the seats lost by Congress were won by AAP, and not by BJP. ...