-The Hindu The wretched outcome of the 2G spectrum auctions, netting just Rs.9,407.64 crore against a Rs.40,000 crore revenue target, has evoked predictable reactions from the Congress party. Its leaders have indirectly mocked the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Supreme Court and the media for tying the government’s hands — instead of expressing concern about the impact of the failed auctions on investor confidence and India’s worrying fiscal deficit. Their gloating...

-Business World Wind, water and the sun can help India cut dependence on coal and gas For India, energy security has never seemed more real, more urgent than now. Forty per cent of the country’s 1.2-billion populace is yet to have access to electricity. Even those getting grid supply suffer poor quality of power. Towns see power cuts more than half the day. The country’s energy deficit, according to the Central Electricity...

-Mainstream Weekly Dr Binayak Sen, an internationally renowned medical practitioner and social activist (a leading figure in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties), was incarcerated in Chhattisgarh and held in detention in Raipur having been branded as a Maoist for his activities in defence of poor tribals in the State. He is now out on bail. The following is the text of the Arvind Narayan Das Memorial Lecture he delivered in...

-The Business Standard Clamp down on burning of waste, industrial smoke Come winter, and Delhi is wrapped in a blanket of smog. It isn’t pretty. Also, it poses grave environmental, health and transportation hazards. Winter seems to have come early this year, and so has the smog. The economic costs are considerable: the winter schedule of airlines and trains invariably goes haywire owing to poor visibility. People breathe in more particulate...

-The Times of India The mystery of the missing detail in official files on why some coal block applicants won while others lost out is proving to be the biggest hurdle in the Centre's bid to ward off the threat of the Supreme Court scrapping all allocations. Aware that an unfavourable verdict on Coalgate will be a body blow to its bid to push-start the economy, the government is planning a careful...