MGNREGA 2.0 should really be MGNREGA 0.0 — it has been outdated from the start, five years ago It is a fact universally acknowledged that India is at a fiscal crossroads. It swerved quite significantly to populism over the last several years, and the consequences of this lurch are that the UPA’s own finance minister is (thankfully) losing sleep over the fiscal burden. More specifically, over the subsidy burden. As we all...

The last eight years have seen a staggering rise in the number of children studying in English-medium schools across the country. Data on school enrolment for 2010-11 shows that, for the first time, the number of children enrolled in English-medium schools from Classes I to VIII has crossed the two crore mark - a 274% rise since 2003-04.  For the fourth year in a row, English is the second-largest medium of...

-The Hindu PMK to hold conference for exposing ‘myth' Pattali Makkal Katchi leader S. Ramadoss on Thursday rejected the perception that the Dravidian movement has several achievements to its credit, arguing that it only created “neo-Brahmins” while alienating Dalits, minorities and other socially and economically backward sections of society. “The leaders of the Dravidian movement used fascinating language aimed at attracting people. However, the 45-year rule of the Dravidian parties has not achieved...

The National Food Security Bill has the potential to make a significant difference to the lives of the poor if properly implemented. However, the Bill in its present form has some easily correctible flaws that could cause huge problems in the future. A couple of simple amendments would greatly simplify the implementation and also allow innovation in the delivery of food subsidy. First, the proposed framework based on three categories of...

Just over five years ago, a global study had labelled India the world’s “lone polio exporter”, prompting the United Nations secretary-general to write a letter of concern to Manmohan Singh. Even three years ago, anti-polio workers in western Uttar Pradesh, then the disease’s epicentre in India, were often abused and driven away when they came to the villages for the vaccination programme. Such memories today flooded into the minds of doctors and...