-The Telegraph The time for informality is over — the Election Commission’s stature requires legal heft When Winston Churchill stood for re-election as prime minister in 1945 after leading Britain to victory in the Second World War, few could have predicted his resounding defeat at the hustings. Churchill was the same fiery, belligerent and all-Powerful leader inspiring awe amongst his countrymen. Yet the country had slowly but surely changed when nobody was...

-The Hindu Business Line Vote shares are generally higher in rural India, because of the centrality of political Power in meeting the needs of communities Well before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls have reached the half-way mark there has been a firm reaffirmation of the sharp differences between the urban and the rural voter. The levels of participation of rural voters in Karnataka’s polling have once again been far greater than that...

-PTI India must focus on growth of labour-intensive sectors to create decent jobs for the masses as well as give “serious thought” to privatising the public sector banks (PSBs), eminent economist Arvind Panagariya has said, emphasising that the reform process must be completed in the coming five years. Panagariya, who had served as the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog from January 2015 to August 2017, was responding to a question...

-Livemint.com * Access to electricity is associated with significant improvement in women emPowerment, finds a new study * Women's bargaining Power increases by 7-10 percentage points because of electrification, says the study Mumbai: In the five years of the Narendra Modi government, India has witnessed near-universal electrification, though the quality of Power supply remains sub-standard. Addressing the supply challenge as demand for electricity rapidly increases will be key not only for India’s economic growth...

-PTI NANDED: Money under the 'Nyay' minimum income guarantee scheme will go into accounts of five crore women, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said here on Monday. The Congress, in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, has said Nyay assures up to Rs 72,000 a year or Rs 6,000 a month income to 20 per cent of India's poorest families. Addressing a poll rally, Rahul Gandhi also assured the crowd that farmers won't...