-Kafila.org The last few months have seen an unusual public engagement around questions of secularism, freedom of speech, sedition and the like, with furious debates everywhere from our campuses, streets and TV studios to the floor of Parliament. The budget session has been enlivened by scenes of high drama, with the leading lights of the Treasury benches bringing colour, sound and fury to their tutorials on patriotism and nationalism. While these high-decibel...

-The Hindu The steps taken towards social democracy are being reversed. What we have now are social insurance policies from above. This subverts the entire project of giving voice to the voiceless. India has paid a heavy price for failing to institutionalise social democracy It is generally agreed that theories of social democracy, in comparison to theories of formal political democracy, take cognisance of background inequalities that hamper the realisation of basic...

-The Indian Express Healthcare in India is a leading cause of poverty. The medical profession must own its share of the blame Earlier this month, The Lancet published a paper calling for a radical transformation of the architecture of India’s healthcare delivery system if it is to achieve the government’s vision of assuring health for all. The paper documented India’s progress on major health indicators in the past decade, but also...

-Hindustan Times Revolution imminent… genetically modified seeds produced by MNCs cause farmer suicides. Incendiary, out-of-context sound-bites juxtaposed between heartrending visuals distort rural poverty from a complex issue that each Indian must help resolve to a simplistic, accusatory Peepli Live feature. Instead of quixotic and strident anti-growth agendas offered as panacea, a coordinated and consistent approach to poverty reduction is needed. Poverty reduction needs development. The linkage between economic growth and poverty reduction is...

-The Telegraph Satyanand Singh, a grocery store owner at Aneesabad, is selling arhar dal at Rs 200 per kg, while Ashiana Nagar-based shopkeeper Deepak Kumar sells the same at Rs 190 per kg. Mohammad Rafi of Boring Road has been selling arhar dal at Rs 190 per kg and the rate for the same at Vishal Mega Mart on Fraser Road is Rs 194 per kg. As soaring prices of arhar dal (pigeon...