Rolling power cuts are what many recall about the 2006-11 DMK regime. Eighteen-hour power cuts were not too unusual at that time. Power cuts of April of this year only served to bring back those memories. What happened last month owes to legacy issues in the state but the state government has...
The DMK has sought to project its ideology in Delhi. The DMK has sought a national profile and opened its Delhi office recently. But the practical side is that the DMK has little heft in the Delhi establishment. Some DMK leaders have personal equations in Delhi but they don't benefit the state....
Mudra loans have been a tremendous success in Tamil Nadu since it fulfills an essential need. People even in relatively developed states like Tamil Nadu still find it difficult to get access to credit for their businesses due to various factors such as lack of collateral. To address these...
In a highly developed state such as Tamil Nadu with a developed manufacturing and service sector, urban or rural job schemes such as MGNREGA skew labour markets and impede progress. Corruption is endemic in these schemes that serve largely people who are over 50 years old. Tamil Nadu has...
The state finance minister, P Thiyagarajan delivered a welfare budget on March 18. But there was little in it to support projections on economic growth and tax buoyancy that would pay for the spending while keeping deficits under control. The budget is not aimed at increasing economic growth...
While many in Tamil Nadu are proud of its social and economic achievements, here's something Tamil Nadu can learn from Bihar: state economic survey. Nationally, two documents present a picture of the state of the Indian economy: the Union government budget and the Economic Survey. The Union...
In the nine months it has been in power, the DMK government has announced a welfare schemes and borrowed more money but has done little to institute structural reforms and rev up TN economy. The strengths and weaknesses of a state economy are often well known. Tamil Nadu is no exception. But...
The recently concluded urban local body polls in Tamil Nadu had the BJP going alone for the first time since 2011. Elections in TN often generate much attention. Regional identities, welfare politics and Dravidian ideology rule the narrative in them. Every election comes with a distinctive...
There are enough laws to make local self-governance robust, but will the Dravidian parties give urban local bodies funds and power?
Medical education has been in the hands of a few elite, but NEET is making it a level-playing field, argues policy expert Chandrasekaran
