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Showing posts with the label Nehruvian policy

Decision Making as Output and Bounded Rationality

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  The classical economics theories proceed on the assumption of rational agents. Rationality implies the economic agents undertake actions or exercise choices based on the cost-benefit analysis they undertake. The assumption further posits that there exists no information asymmetry and thus the agent is aware of all the costs and benefits associated with the choice he or she has exercised. The behavioral school contested the decision stating the decisions in practice are often irrational. Implied there is a continuous departure from rationality. Rationality in the views of the behavioral school is more an exception to the norm rather a rule. The past posts have discussed the limitations of this view by the behavioral school. Economics has often posited rationality in the context in which the choices are exercised rather than theoretical abstract view of rational action. Rational action in theory seems to be grounded in zero restraint situation yet in practice, there are numerous restra
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Nehru and Buffer State Thinking

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  Former President Pranab Mukherjee seems to have stirred a hornet’s nest when in his posthumous book “My Presidential Years” apparently has made a reference to Prime Minister Nehru rejecting an offer from Nepali king to merge his state with India. This apparently happened during the restoration of King Tribhuvan while ousting the Ranas. The story has been floating around for decades, of course with semi-authenticity but with Pranab Mukherjee referring to the same in his book has reinforced the authenticity of the offer. It is highly conceivable that Tribhuvan did make an offer and it would not be unusual for Nehru to have rejected the same. Nehru did allow Bhutan and Sikkim to remain independent. In fact, the people in Sikkim wanted to join India, but PM Nehru allowed the monarchy to continue. It was left to his daughter Indira Gandhi as PM to ensure Sikkim acceded to India. It is possible that she would have annexed Nepal and Bhutan too at some point of time had not other domestic fa
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Invoking Krishna in the India-China Faceoff

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The Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Leh today. It was ostensibly in view of the ongoing tensions and recent clashes between India and China on the Ladakh border. The motive was to take note and conduct a first hand survey of the happenings and the ground position on the border. Besides, more prominent was to boost the morale of the soldiers serving on the border as their families back home are battling the uncertainty of Chinese virus induced flu. By all accounts, the visit seemed to have been a success. The PM’s communication skills and strategy were once again evident in full flow. There might be a talk of PM not visiting the actual border but there would be many reasons for the same including the problem of acclimatization.   Yet, what needs to be decoded is the communication of PM as he sought to send message to the aggressive moves of the neighbours. The PM’s speech was aimed at China without naming it and pointedly referred to India’s resolve in defeatin
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