-The Business Standard   It is not often that the government accepts the report of a committee promptly without detailed scrutiny. But an exception has been made – and with good reasons – in respect of the report of the task force on reforming the public distribution system (PDS). The committee, headed by Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman Nandan Nilekani, has made several valuable recommendations that can cure some of the...

The Centre is exploring the possibility of introducing different petrol prices for two-wheelers and cars in an attempt to combat a perception that it is insensitive to the plight of the common people. Facing a flurry of protests from allies, Opposition parties and consumer groups against the hike in petrol prices last week, senior cabinet ministers are considering whether differential pricing is possible to insulate users of two-wheelers and three-wheelers from...

It has to be but a means to development, not an end in itself Is India doing marvellously well, or is it failing terribly? Depending on whom you speak to, you could pick up either of those answers with some frequency. One story, very popular among a minority but a large enough group—of Indians who are doing very well (and among the media that cater largely to them)—runs something like...

Communal violence had erupted in the area over a piece of disputed land Despite the initiation of an artificial “peace process” in the aftermath of September's horrific violence, the people in this nondescript town, which grabbed the headlines for the wrong reasons, seem to have lost confidence in the neutrality of the administration. Victims are yet to come to terms with the mishandling of the situation and, what they claim, the...

The word ‘hunger’ does not appear in the 12th Plan Approach Paper even once, whereas according to the latest Global Hunger Index Report, India continues to be in the category of those nations where hunger is ‘alarming’. What is worse, India is one of the three countries where the hunger index between 1996 and 2011 has gone up from 22.9 to 23.7, while 78 out of the 81 developing countries...