-The Indian Express Until recently, we took a compartmentalised view of national security. Each threat to national security was neatly fitted into one compartment. The first, of course, was a war with Pakistan. That was fitted into a compartment and was meant to be deterred, or defended, through the might of our armed forces. A war with China was, and remains, unthinkable, and therefore that threat was fitted into another compartment...

The total expenditure on central schemes for the poor and on the major subsidies exceeds the states' share of central taxes. These schemes are chronic bad performers due to a culture of immunity in public administration and weakened local governments. Arguing that the poor should be trusted to use these resources better than the state, a radical redirection with substantial direct transfers to individuals and complementary decentralisation to local governments...

-The Times of India Six years ago, the Sachar Committee reportshowed that the Muslim community in India suffers from severe deprivations in education, employment, health services, public infrastructure, access to financial services leading to much higher poverty than other religious groups, somewhat like the condition of scheduled castes and tribes. The government responded by setting up a separate ministry for minority affairs, and launching several programs to provide benefits to the...

-The Hindu The retail vegetable sellers have now started quoting the prices of almost all items in pao or 250 grammes. The concept of darjan or dozen has almost been replaced by the kilogramme for the humblest of fruits like bananas and oranges. But this means little to the common household which now literally thinks twice before buying any grocery item. A common refrain heard often from politicians is that prices are...

-Outlook Nearly Rs 1.71 crore have been spent on foreign visits of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, her cabinet colleagues and members of the Assembly in the past nine years. According to an RTI reply, Dikshit, her ministers and MLAs undertook around 57 foreign visits including to the US, the UK, Spain, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Germany and Switzerland and an amount of Rs 1.71 crore was spent between 2004 and October 2012. As...