Columnist
11 articles
11 articles
Pakora to Petrol Price Trap By Shivaji Sarkar Inflation in India is not merely the result of global shocks; it is increasingly a product of high fuel taxes, cesses and pricing policies that amplify costs across the economy. The country’s heavy dependence on petroleum and gas—further entrenched by schemes such as Ujjwala—has made energy prices
Rs Nears 100, Inflation Soars By Shivaji Sarkar The rupee has breached Rs 96-a-dollar mark and is now racing towards crossing the psychological Rs 100 barrier, despite repeated efforts to steady its fall. As the dollar surges, markets grow nervous, policymakers scramble for answers, and ordinary Indians brace for rising costs. The weakening rupee is
TN Rises, WB Moves Up By Shivaji Sarkar India’s economic geography is changing rapidly. The gap between states that build industry, attract investment and create jobs and those trapped in political confrontation, debt and administrative drift is widening sharply. Even in growth, the contrast is visible between Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The new governments
UAE’s OPEC Exit, Higher Oil Risks By Shivaji Sarkar None, not even US analysers, expected that a “non-descript war” with a small country like Iran could change the global energy scenario, that America is keen on monopolising. The US plans a conflict decades before as it had envisioned the 1969 Camp David accord with Egypt
Re Slide Costs RBI $40 Bn By Shivaji Sarkar The Iran war is hurting India more than it could ever imagine. It’s hitting gas supplies, NRI remittances, FDI and causing immense losses to Reserve Bank of India. India also has to reposition itself in diplomacy. As of April 2026, the RBI burnt approximately $40 billion in foreign
Rupee Slides, Prices Bite, India Slips By Shivaji Sarkar The Iran war is hitting many countries beyond they could have imagined. The IMF forecast has subdued global growth. India is no less a sufferer. IMF makes India slip to sixth largest economy as rupee sinks, oil prices hit inflation high and a combination of factors
High Fuel, No User Grounds UDAN By Shivaji Sarkar At a critical time of fuel scarcity, the push to the nearly a decade-old India’s Regional Connectivity Scheme—UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik)—is confronting a hard truth: aviation cannot be socially engineered into viability. Despite a renewed push involving tens of thousands of crores in public
The Great Miscommunication By Shivaji Sarkar It’s about miscommunication and unfathomed losses. Never has the Gulf wars jolted India so hard. India’s recent anxiety over a supposed petroleum and LPG “shortage” is less a story of actual scarcity and more a case study in poor official communication. There may well be supply pressures in parts
Record Returns, Shrinking Revenue By Shivaji Sarkar It has been a week of pure hungama in Parliament. Rarely has the Lok Sabha appeared so charged, so combative and so visibly tilted against the government. The Opposition seized the initiative early and never let go. Tempers flared, slogans echoed, and adjournments became routine. Yet beneath the
Himalayas Face Snow Famine By Shivaji Satkar An alarm bell is tolling. A “snow famine”, or more accurately, recurrent and intensifying snow droughts, is occurring in the Himalayas due to climate change and weakened weather patterns (Western Disturbances). This decline in seasonal snowpack has severe, far-reaching impacts on India’s water security, agriculture, hydropower, and overall ecosystem stability.
Global Food Plenty, Prices Fall By Shivaji Sarkar India’s food economy in 2026 looks comfortable. Granaries are overflowing, vegetable prices are slipping, sugar is in surplus, and global food markets are cooling—even as wars rage in Ukraine and West Asia and climate shocks persist. The Food and Agricultural Organisation’s (FAO) Food Price Index has retreated
