-National Herald Well-known Belgian-Indian economist Jean Drèze, reflects on the times we live in this animated conversation with Ujjawal Krishnam Jean Drèze, the Belgian-Indian economist, true to his reputation, laces humour and an acerbic wit to reflect on the times we live in. Self deprecating, he brushes aside the question how he juggles between his roles as economist, activist and teacher. He wonders at the multi-tasking ability of Indian women instead. Nor...

-The Hindu The debate on privatising higher education must be founded on the role of such institutions in developing a democratic and inclusive society. Motihari University, Manipur University, Hyderabad Central University, Jawaharlal Nehru University — these names have become shorthand for a set of problems that get framed differently depending on who does the analysis. The list of campuses of public-funded higher education institutions where anger is simmering or has flared up...

-Hindustan Times The universities need to think of evolving a strategy to hire the best people and offer them attractive salaries to keep them motivated More than half the professorial posts in country’s central universities are vacant. Of the 2,426 sanctioned posts for professors across the central universities, 1,301 have not been filled, reveals data provided by human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar in the Lok Sabha. The lacuna caused by faculty...

-The Hindu The political scientist on the danger to India’s checks and balances, and the perils of the democratisation of mediocrity in universities Professor of political science and a holder of the Madan Lal Sobti Chair, Devesh Kapur has been director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary India at University of Pennsylvania since 2006. Mr. Kapur, who recently co-edited Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design, says our public universities...

-The Indian Express We have been numbed by a series of lies, myths and fictions about the project. India is at risk of becoming a surveillance state, with faint resistance from libertarians, intellectuals, political parties, the media, or the Supreme Court. Very soon, almost everyone will have an Aadhaar number, seeded in hundreds of databases. Most of these databases will be accessible to the government without invoking any special powers. Permanent surveillance...