-Pragoti The magnificent victory of the CPI(M)-led Left Front in Tripura - winning 50 out of the 60 seats – and the success of the LF candidate in the Nalhati by-election in West Bengal has been interpreted as a “re-emergence” of the Left parties by a senior CPI(M) leader. This does not seem to be a rigorous assessment. While the fifth consecutive win by the LF in Tripura is a matter of...
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Food prices worry govt ahead of 2014 elections -Rajeev Deshpande
-The Times of India The Manmohan Singh government's mission in a pre-election year seems cut out: To check and roll back retail food inflation that rose from 4% in January last year to 13% in December, a trend that could blight its 2014 poll ratings. With food prices accounting for half of overall inflation, this group stayed above 10% most of last year, higher than the overall consumer price index figure of...
More »The Doctor Only Knows Economics-Lola Nayar and Amba Batra Bakshi
-Outlook This could be the UPA’s worst cut to its beloved aam admi. Healthcare has virtually been handed over to privateers. Not For Those Who Need It Most Govt seems to have abandoned healthcare to the private sector Diagnosing An Ailing Republic 70 per cent of India still lives in the villages, where only two per cent of qualified allopathic doctors are available Due to lack of access to medical care, rural India...
More »People, The Real Estate-Pragya Singh
-Outlook A new land acquisition bill readies for budget session. How will it fare? Bill Of Blights Defines “public purpose” too broadly, allows govt to acquire land for PPPs Less landowner consent required for PPPs than private-only projects The bill’s compensation norms likely to face strict challenges in the courts States have been given R&R powers but could lead to arbitrary outcomes Doesn’t consider govt projects where compensation, R&R are neglected *** The...
More »The Nandy Bully-S Anand
-Outlook The sorts of corruption that matter are a purview of privileged “An intellectual man can be a good man but he may easily be a rogue. Similarly an intellectual class may be a band of high-souled persons, ready to help, ready to emancipate erring humanity, or it may easily be a gang of crooks or a body of advocates of narrow clique from which it draws its support.” —B.R....
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