This guy called Sauvik Chakraverti used to have a regular column in the Economic Times a couple of years ago. He was quite refreshing- his suggestions had a touch of insanity- the sort that might actually work, and you’d like to see it tried out. Right now, the only bloke the ET has who makes suggestions as radical as Sauvik Chakraverti is Abheek Barman, who wants income tax to be abolished so that we can concentrate on the more important things of life- which according to him are watching the Powerpuff Girls defend the Earth from giant mutant broccoli from outer space. I’m serious. He wrote that in his column. But anyway, coming back to Sauvik Chakraverti.
Apart from regularly roasting all Indian governments, whether Central, state, or municipal for building houses instead of roads, he would frequently suggest putting zero customs duty on secondhand cars, so that autorickshawalas could drive cheap taxicabs instead of autorickshaws. This way, you’d create wealth for the cabbies, and make Indian traffic less messy and more productive.
The good news is that Sauvik was back, if only in a cameo. Today’s lead editorial in the Times Of India was by him. Here’s the link.
Quite a thoughtful and well-written article. Do read it.