After the furore over the Modi government imposing President's Rule in Congress-ruled Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand -- in seeming defiance of the Supreme Court's 1994 Bommai judgement -- supporters have pointed out that previous governments have used Article 356 more frequently to remove state governments: https://twitter.com/rupasubramanya/status/714094610306322432 There are two obvious problems with this line of argument: Legitimacy. It fails …
Month: March 2016
Nitin Gadkari’s highway jumla
Roads and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari likes to present himself as the singlehanded builder of Indian highways. He has repeatedly claimed -- most recently at the 2016 India Today Conclave -- that the pace of highway construction has increased by close to ten times under his watch: https://twitter.com/SandeepUnnithan/status/710360486462644224 This would be brag-worthy if it were true, …
A tax too far
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s minority status in the Rajya Sabha has proven to be a big impediment to its legislative goals, and the long-delayed Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- which needs a 2/3rds majority in the Rajya Sabha to pass -- seems as distant as ever. In the Rajya Sabha elections held for 12 …
Chunauti 