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Freebies galore: The 16th Finance Commission warns against them and so does ancient history

New Delhi, March 10 -- In 123 BCE, Gaius Gracchus passed the lex frumentaria, a law mandating that the Roman state sell grain to citizens at a fixed below-market price. The aim was modest: stabilize f... Read More


Why delinking the Finance Commission's devolution from state FC reports is a flawed idea

New Delhi, Feb. 24 -- In his book Increasing Returns and Path Dependence in the Economy, economist W. Brian Arthur explains how institutional outcomes often persist not because they are efficient, but... Read More


Budget 2026-27: Continuity over colour in an age of constraint

New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- Indian Budgets are often remembered for symbols. One of the most cited examples is N.D. Tiwari's "sindoor Budget" of the 1980s, recalled less for its fiscal impact than for a toke... Read More


Economic Survey 2025-26 has done well to stir up a debate on state capacity: Here's what it misses

New Delhi, Jan. 30 -- Economic Survey 2025-26 deserves credit for elevating state capacity from a background condition to a central analytical concern. It moves the policy conversation beyond the fami... Read More


The government must ease off on litigation to reduce the judiciary's burden and help the economy

New Delhi, Jan. 4 -- India has 54 million pending cases, 47 million in district courts, 6.3 million in high courts and nearly 90,000 in the Supreme Court, with just 25,000 judges to handle them. This... Read More


India's AMR Warning

New Delhi, Dec. 29 -- For most of modern history, infection was a matter of fate. A cut could kill. Pneumonia could be a death sentence. Childbirth itself was dangerous. What changed this was antibiot... Read More