The private sector in education should not be driven by the profit motive alone. Private educational institutions are necessary, but commercialisation of education must be checked. The supreme court struck an optimal middle, allowing private schools to generate reasonable surplus for sustaining themselves but warned against commercialisation. It has advised state governments to come up with reg
Budget 2018, forecast to be a “please all” budget, has come out as a “disappoint all” budget. The public is looking askance at a budget that gives with one hand but takes away with both, the Sensex has gone into a tailspin and the pink papers are issuing dire warnings. The government, on its part, is finding it hard to explain the contradictions in the bu
[Mahatma Gandhi’s Autobiography, first published in book form in 1927 and 1929, had sold 50,000 copies in Gujarati alone, reports the Translator in the preface to the ‘second revised edition’. When we also consider the other Indian languages and foreign languages it has been translated into, the work is arguably the biggest best-seller from India, rivalled only by the astr
The new year is barely a month old and, all of a sudden, it seemed the year 2019 was almost here. The end of December was the time of crucial state election results, and the beginning of February was the time of the last full-budget the this government. Both events came to be seen in the light of the next year’s general elections. The result is that nobody is talking of 2018; it is as if
Union minister Mansukh L Mandaviya, 45, is among the younger politicians to have made it to the cabinet. He is in charge of road transport and highways, shipping, chemicals and fertilisers. In a freewheeling interview with Pankaj Kumar, he speaks on the budget and the state of the economy. In the last four years, there has been considerable development of road in
The Narendra Modi government, in its last full union budget 2018- 19, introduced two ambitious health policies under ‘Ayushman Bharat for New India - 2022’. The budget introduced 1.5 lakh health and wellness centers are proposed to be established, and health insurance worth Rs 5 lakh per family is to be provided to nearly 100 million families under the National Health Protecti
Within a couple of days of assuming charge, Jai Ram Thakur made his first trip to Delhi as Himachal Pradesh chief minister. After meeting the BJP leadership, returning on December 30 – a Saturday, he wasted no time in changing the bureaucratic leadership of the state. After winning the elections primarily on the promise of fighting corruption, the BJP regime’s first move was to appo
Listen, O! Lord: Standing things shall fall, That which moves shall stay… As prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday walked across the aisle to reach both houses of parliament, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, for his reply to the motion of thanks to the presidential address, he subconsciously recited this rhyme penned by Sant Basaveshwara, a Hindu socia
In the union budget for 2018-19, some big announcements have been made especially for the health sector but not supported by corresponding budgetary allocations. While, on the one hand, allocations for some of the key programmes have not shown any increase, on the other, promises have been made for rolling out a big insurance scheme for the poor with no specific budgetary provisions.
Political parties rarely survive on static social bases in a democracy. The BJP has been experimenting with shifting its social bases and coalescing them in a formidable vote bank in every round of elections, be it state assembly polls or general elections. And the last full union budget presented before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections must be seen in this context. Take for instance
Ethiopia is being energetically wooed by both India and China as it is a major player in Africa. The Ethiopian ambassador to India, Asfaw Dingamo Kame, spoke to Shankar Kumar about the ongoing defence cooperation between the two countries and shared his views on the clamour for reforms in the United Nations. He also shed light on the fast-paced developments in Zimbabwe.
There were several announcements for farmers and the farm sector in the union budget 2018. Which among them would be most important in realising the target of doubling the farmers’ income by 2022? The government under the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi is committed towards doubling the farmers’ income by 2022. The finance minister has ann
After prolonged controversy, the Hindi movie “Padmaavat” has finally been released and has been a roaring success in revenue terms (it is believed to have earned a whopping Rs 200 crore within less than a week). Ignoring the menacing semantics emanating from so-called Rajput outfits and self-proclaimed protectors of Rajputs’ vanity and pride, masses thronged cinema halls and w
Cloaked in obsessive secrecy, our budget process is rooted in our colonial past. By a single document, the government tries to lay down the roadmap of the economy for the coming financial year. It is quite another thing that the complexities of modern finance force the government to tinker with the economy throughout the year. It is a matter of recent memory that the two most important financ
A lot has been discussed and written over the absence of women from the Indian labour force, and how it affects the economic growth of the country. Even as it seemed the new millennium arrived with better days for women, the numbers tell a different story. Between 2004 and 2011, the Indian economy grew at a rate of 7 percent, and during the same period, female participation in the workforce fel
India is the largest democracy and the second largest populated country in the world. One-third of its population belongs to the youth in the age group of 15-29. Youth is a transition period between the childhood and adulthood. United Nations defines youth as persons within the age group of 15-24. The National Youth Policy (NYP) 2014 of India considers the 15-29 age group as a
If you are a keen watcher of the celebrations on Independence Day or Republic Day, you may be aware of the security risks these two events used to entail. Sleuths were busy in carrying out raids while security forces were put on the top alert to foil any possibility of disruptions by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In the eighties and nineties, t
In his justly praised speech at the World Economic Forum at Davos, prime minister Narendra Modi highlighted three among the numerous threats to our shared future: climate change, terrorism and protectionism (that is, economic barriers between nations). Few would disagree with this diagnosis. Some may have three other and more urgent topics in mind; but Modi’s three themes w
You have remarked that the four judges who raised serious questions about the administrative functioning of the supreme court should be impeached. What made you ask for such an extreme action? When I said that the four judges should be impeached, my opinion was based completely on judicial discipline. The damage they have caused to the functioning of the judiciar
Four senior judges of the supreme court have publicly made serious allegations against the chief justice of India. Will it have wider impact on judicial discipline? I think so. I think the CJI will have to take note of it and rectify the mistakes he was making. Will it not set a wrong precedent? What if judges in high courts or lower courts
