-Live Mint     As a democracy matures, citizens become more willing to trust elected representatives to plan and take steps for the long-term growth and development One common complaint during this election has been that the election commission (EC) has to be consulted before the government and its regulatory agencies take any routine decision. Decisions relating to gas price hikes and bank licences all had to be cleared by the EC, whose over...

-The Hindu   If some communities have been denied the benefits of development on grounds of religion, this development is anti-secular, argues Rajeev Bhargava, political theorist Arch rivals the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party continue to trade accusations against each other of playing the communal card in the campaign to the general elections. These are classic instances of the confusion over what secularism is in India. Restoring clarity on the conceptual aspects...

-The Business Standard Associates say Bose always tried to make complex things simple and understandable Finding out the essence is more important than getting lost in statistical jugglery" is what Ashish Bose, the country's foremost demographer, who passed away on Monday, once told Amitabh Kundu, his friend and professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Kundu's description perhaps summarises the personality of Bose, best known for coining the term BIMARU (in a paper...

-The Business Standard   Policy roadblocks holding back solar power The solar energy sector is beset with several problems that need to be sorted out to allow it to expand to its potential. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, which was set up in 2010, has largely failed to supercharge the sector. Its first phase aimed at creating 1,100 megawatts of new capacity; only 252 MW has been added. Its second phase...

-The Hindustan Times We are a nation holding our breath. Some in eager anticipation, others in ambiguous apprehension or actual terror, but all of us transfixed by the drama of Mr Narendra Modi's arrival. Even those who do not relish the thought of the outcome seem happy to get it over, to put behind us this sad drama of the UPA's strange implosion, the decline, Lear-like, from decisiveness (if wrong-headed at times)...