-Economic and Political Weekly The government’s response to the protests led by the youth against the gang rape incident in New Delhi, in the form of an ordinance has not met the aspirations of the many protestors and the woman rights’ organisations. It can in fact be accused of being vindictive, having ignored the thoroughgoing recommendations of the government appointed justice Verma committee's report. Albeena Shakil (albeenashakil@gmail.com) is a women rights’ activist...

-The Telegraph A baby girl in need of a brain scan has been turned away by every government hospital she has visited in six months because her unemployed single mother doesn't have a BPL card or the money for an MRI. Jhuma Majhi's daughter BRIshti, a year and nine months old, was recommended an MRI of the brain last August after falling off a bed and suffering convulsions that have since become...

-The Times of India   In a stunning twist to the 2G case, an audio tape of a CBI senior public prosecutor purportedly advising a key accused on how to counter prosecution's charge has emerged, breathing fresh life into the mega-swindle and BRInging fresh trouble for the government. The tape sent to the CBI anonymously has the agency's senior public prosecutor A K Singh speaking to Sanjay Chandra, MD of Unitech and...

-The Hindu Effective spending, reworking the affiliation system and breaking academic bureaucracy are key to better universities Although Indian higher education suffers from many dysfunctionalities and the system overall is characterised by “pinnacles of excellence in a sea of mediocrity”, it does reasonably well by some international comparisons. Here are a few examples: — India is a global leader in terms of GDP spent by public and private sources on higher education. India...

-The Telegraph Even reformed capitalism cannot give equal opportunity There is a view that the real problem with capitalism is that there is no equality of opportunity under this system. Your entire life gets determined by which class you happen to get born into. If the effect of this ‘happenstance’ could somehow be eliminated, so that everyone enjoyed equality of opportunity, then even though income and wealth inequalities continued to remain...