-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Onion prices have again hit the roof in Mumbai, Delhi and other major cities after stabilizing briefly in August, leading the Centre to suggest that traders and speculators might be "artificially" increasing onion prices and has asked whether a seasonal shortage in supplies is being exploited. "Governments of Delhi and Chandigarh were addressed to look into the possibility of traders and speculators creating an artificial...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The onion crisis gripping the government might be largely man made. Slow release of onion stocks by a clutch of traders rather than a shortfall in production has emerged as a key reason for retail prices rocketing to Rs 70-80 a kg. The government uncovered the plot - hatched by traders operating from major onion markets in Nashik in Maharashtra - as it sought to figure...

-Live Mint The mid-day scheme is underpinned by a rent-seeking chain that keeps all the major stakeholders satisfied The mid-day meal (MDM) tragedy in Chhapra once again focuses attention on the low-level equilibrium that our public systems are trapped in. Consider these facts. Apart from rice, which has to be collected from the local ration shop, the MDM programme allocates each primary and upper-primary child Rs3.11 and Rs4.65, respectively to purchase pulses,...

-The Indian Express Why the proposed national minimum wage is the wrong answer to questions of unemployment and poverty The recent national labour conference - a trade union love fest with little real employer participation - demanded a national minimum wage. The trade union demand is a predictable positioning of narrow self-interest as national interest but the government's acceptance of their demand is unfair, delusional and economically stupid. Unfair, because it pampers a...

-The Hindu   The parliamentary committees on the howitzer scam and the stock market scandal protected the powerful and failed to fix accountability. The same is true in the spectrum case The current political situation brings back memories of 1989. The Prime Minister then was under a cloud in the Bofors scam. Many of his close associates like Lalit Suri and Ajitabh Bachchan were accused of wrong-doing. Today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and...