India’s ‘New Era’ and Western Imperialism in 2023 Part 5
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
2M ago
[The following article is the fifth instalment in a series.] 5. The Adani Group and International Capital The year 2023 was a tumultuous one for the Adani Group of companies. In January 2023, according to a report by the US research firm Hindenburg, the Adani Group was worth $218 billion, and Adani had a personal net worth of $120 billion, making him the world’s third richest person. The Hindenburg Research report appeared a year ago, on January 24, 2023. It labeled the Adani group “the largest con in corporate history”.[1] Share prices of firms in the group plummeted: the market valuation of ..read more
Visit website
India’s ‘New Era’ and Western Imperialism in 2023 Part 3
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
2M ago
[The following article is the third instalment in a series.] 3. India’s ‘human rights’ and the western powers It is a year now since the broadcast of the BBC documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question’ (the first part was released on January 17, 2023, and the second part a week later). The documentary’s main ‘revelation’ was the report of a confidential UK government inquiry at the time of the Gujarat riots (2002). The inquiry concluded that Narendra Modi (then chief minister of Gujarat) was directly responsible for the riots, and referred to the events as a “systematic campaign of violence” with ..read more
Visit website
India’s ‘New Era’ and Western Imperialism in 2023 Part 2
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
2M ago
[The following article is the second instalment in a series.] 2. The benefits of Russian crude oil imports Western sanctions and Indian actions The most frequently cited example of India’s independent and self-assertive policy in the recent period has been its decision to import crude oil from Russia, despite Western sanctions on that country. Did India’s imports of Russian oil, “serve the Indian people”, as External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said, in defiance of the dictates of the US, UK, and Europe? The reality is that the Indian people did not benefit. As we shall see below, th ..read more
Visit website
India’s ‘New Era’ and Western Imperialism in 2023
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
2M ago
[The following article is the first instalment in a series.] 1. Introduction On December 21, 2023, India’s Parliament passed bills replacing three existing legislations regarding criminal justice[1]with revised Acts titled in Sanskrit.[2] The Prime Minister said that this was a “watershed moment in our history. These bills mark the end of colonial-era laws. A new era begins…”  This is the latest in a series of such measures by the Indian government. In his 2022 Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister asked Indians pledge to remove “any trace of the colonial mindset”. Shortly ..read more
Visit website
Gaza 2023 — High-Tech War Revisited
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
4M ago
Amid the present fateful developments in Palestine, it is worth turning back to an article of December 2006 by Jacob Levich[1], “A Counter-Revolution in Military Affairs? Notes on US High-Tech Warfare” (at https://rupe-india.org/old-site/42/rma.html; re-published here). It has proved remarkably prescient. The article examined the United States’s ‘Revolution in Military Affairs’ (RMA),  a new system of warfare that was said to combine innovative battlefield tactics with high-tech weaponry, networked communications, and sophisticated surveillance technology…. ‘Wired’ or ‘postmodern’ warfar ..read more
Visit website
Who Loses, Who Gains?
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
6M ago
Indian government bonds are added to the JP Morgan Emerging Markets index 1. Illusory gains; volatility; net drain; regime of monitoring 2. The effects of the fiscal policy demanded by foreign investors 3. The Indian ruling classes’ calculations 1. Almost two years ago, we wrote a note pointing to the strenuous efforts the Indian rulers were making to get Indian government bonds added to international bond indices. After two years of stalling and starting, the rulers’ efforts have finally succeeded: JP Morgan has now decided to add Indian government bonds to its “emerging markets government bo ..read more
Visit website
The Trillion Dollar Silencer 
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
11M ago
Can It Silence Permanently? — Manali Chakrabarti (A review of  THE TRILLION DOLLAR SILENCER: Why There Is So Little Anti-War Protest in the United States, Clarity Press, 2023, 218 pp by Joan Roelofs)    In a moment of candour, three-times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas Friedman, a poster boy for globalisation, wrote that: The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist — McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the builder of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley’s technologies is called the Uni ..read more
Visit website
Aspects of India’s Economy, no. 80
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
11M ago
Special Issue on India’s Telecom Sector, and What It Tells Us about Indian Monopoly Capital India’s private corporate sector is more prominent today than at any time in the past. Its chieftains are listed among the richest persons in the world. The Indian government’s growth plans now explicitly centre on the country’s largest fi rms, with the aim of creating a few ‘national champions’ capable of competing globally. A research report regarding the house of Adani shook the Indian markets, and became a national political issue. In this special issue (Indian Telecom’s Spectacular Rise and the Nat ..read more
Visit website
Aspects of India’s Economy no. 78
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
11M ago
Aspects no. 78 appeared in September 2022, with the following articles. The Rural Depression  — [pdf] 1. Decline in Peasant Incomes 2. Decline in Rural Labour Incomes 3. Rural Demand Depressed Pushed Over the Edge – [pdf] The economy was in a depression even before March 2020. With the massive depression of demand that has taken place due to the Covid-19 lockdowns and the Government’s refusal to spend, many rural households that were earlier struggling to keep from falling would have been pushed over the edge. Farm Households Earn More from Wages than Crops: What Does This Imply? — [pdf ..read more
Visit website
Aspects of India’s Economy no. 77
Research Unit for Political Economy
by rupeindia
11M ago
This issue appeared in June 2022. Fall-out of the Ukraine Conflict on India’s Economy – [pdf] The Problem Is Actually at Home The principal responsibility for the suffering of the people thus cannot be shoved onto world events; it lies with India’s rulers themselves, who have led the country into the present abyss. Wheat Export Debacle: Policy and Real Agenda Are Responsible, Not Mere Bungling – [pdf] It is not the export ban, then, that deserves to be criticised, but the policy of Government withdrawal from procurement and the free hand given to private profiteers. The events leading up to th ..read more
Visit website

Follow Research Unit for Political Economy on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR