-The Economic Times India may have policy of preferring free and open source applications, but still the world's largest software maker Microsoft and others, including Adobe, Norton and McAfee, have managed to weasel their way into some of the largest government purchases in the country's history. Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are in the process of procuring over eight million laptops preloaded with proprietary software in clear violation of India's national...

-Outlook People should cut use of power if they cannot afford high electricity tariff, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said today, a prescription that evoked criticism. Under attack for the hike in power tariff, Dikshit also sought to justify it, saying the increase in cost of power production has led to the rise in electricity rates. Stating that the consumers will have to pay if they want round-the-clock electricity supply, Dikshit went on...

-The Hindu In his article in The Hindu (editorial page, “Making a mockery of domestic gas pricing,” January 18, 2013, Surya P. Sethi attacks the gas pricing formula proposed by the Rangarajan Committee, curiously enough, for being based on numbers from foreign markets that do not reflect the supply, demand or cost of production in India. I say “curiously” because on the exact opposite side, domestic producers are also pillorying the committee’s...

-Al Jazeera Widening wealth gap in Beijing has stoked concerns over its impact on political and social stability. The Chinese government has issued a pledge to narrow the widening income gap between rich and poor, which includes raising its minimum wage and requiring state companies to turn over more profits to pay for social programmes. The pledge on Tuesday promised more spending on health, education and job training but gave few details and...

-The Times of India Aam Aadmi Party has Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit in its crosshairs again, promising to expose on Friday how the Delhi government consistently "favoured" private power distribution companies at the expense of the public. Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan announced on Thursday that they would expose "connivance" between Dikshit and the electricity companies. The offensive against Delhi government is not new and, in fact, marks the end of a...