-The Indian Express The growing influence on policy issues of activists who call themselves “civil society” is a worrying trend and needs to be objectively analysed. Two recent policy pronouncements will illustrate how government seems to be yielding to their pressure. It is well established that absenteeism of teachers and poor quality of outcomes in government schools is the main factor behind the popularity of private schools with poor infrastructure that cater...

-Economic and Political Weekly The recent debate on the acceptability of foreign direct investment in the retail sector in India has been mostly political. It is necessary to look into the pros and cons of FDI in retail from a purely economic point of view. This article identifi es the safeguards that should be undertaken before allowing giant multinationals to function in the country. Abhirup Sarkar (abhirup@isical.ac.in) is with the Indian Statistical...

-Outlook Seven more persons fell prey to biting cold wave in UP where death toll due to the harsh Weather touched 69 today, while most other parts of North India also shivered and fog disrupted rail and air traffic. The National capital had a gloomy Weather as the fog returned after four days, and the maximum temperature was recorded at 17 degree Celsius, a drop of four notches. The minimum was recorded...

-The Times of India UPA-II's flagship direct cash transfer scheme has run into rough Weather following warnings of a potential scam in the making, and evoking concerns of serious delays. Government functionaries have raised the red flag about how cash would be finally disbursed to beneficiaries and whether the National Population Register (NPR) would come into play in some states instead of the Unique Identification (UID) number to identify the end-users. Senior...

-Outlook 13 people were killed in North India today due to biting cold which tightened its grip across the region. In capital Delhi, the maximum temperature was 16.6 degrees celsius, four notches below normal, while the minimum was 9.2 degrees celsius, two degrees above normal. In Uttar Pradesh, 13 people were killed due to cold in various parts of the state in the last 24 hours. While three persons died due to extreme cold...