-Financial Express It is the season of promising freebies to lure voters. Congress leads in these promises. It has promised a loan waiver in Chhattisgarh within 10 days of coming to power; and the hiking of minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to Rs 2,500/quintal, up from Rs 1,750/quintal, a 43% raise over the already increased MSP of paddy. In Madhya Pradesh, it has promised a loan waiver of up to...

-Financial Express Mathadi leaders Shashikant Shinde and Narendra Patil met Minister for Cooperation and Marketing Subhash Deshmukh and had sought more clarity on the role of commission agents in APMCs as well as transactions on eNAM After traders at Vashi in Maharashtra called for a one-day Bandh on Tuesday against the Maharashtra Agricultural Produce Marketing Development and the Regulation Act Ordinance, over 4-5 lakh Mathadi ( workers who carry loads) workers...

-The Telegraph That Indian democracy would benefit from having more women in the legislature is demonstrated in a recent study In 1925, Sarojini Naidu became president of the Indian National Congress. Her candidature was promoted by Gandhi, who admired Naidu because she stood “for solid Hindu-Muslim unity”. Her election as head of her party was, as Gandhi put it, “the fittest opportunity for paying our Indian sisters the compliment that is long...

-The Hindu The Indian education system would be a good place to start with reforms, says the development economist Jean Drèze is possibly the world’s most famous Belgian-Indian. He has lived in India since 1979, and is an Indian citizen. As a development economist and activist, he has helped draft some startlingly pro-people legislations, such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, and the National Food Security Act, 2013....

-The Hindu Congress aims to tap into ryots’ anger. Simrol (Madhya Pradesh): Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s repeated attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation at election meetings in Madhya Pradesh led the Prime Minister to declare that Mr. Gandhi’s party is yet to revive from the “shock” inflicted by the note Ban. “Only the Congress and one family are still crying because what they had pilfered for four generations was lost in...