-The Hindu Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decency and politics of reconciliation have been his undoing Last fortnight I had cloistered myself away in the hills for a spot of reflection and writing. I had chosen to deprive myself of blessings like newspapers, the television and internet; telephone connectivity was at best erratic and in any case it was turned off most of the time. During one occasional moment of connectedness I got...

Araria, Bihar: If the government had bought bicycles to give them to schoolgirls, you would have had a bicycle scam in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar famously said, explaining why he gave bicycle vouchers to families. But when it came to giving land to landless Mahadalit families — the poorest and most marginalised of Dalits — the government forgot this wisdom.   Result: Allegedly acting in concert, government officials and brokers ganged...

The cartoon controversy provides the possibility of interrogating the functioning of the academic system to understand its relationship with the downtrodden masses. A new deliberation is needed in order to make the academic world more sensitive and responsive towards the issues and concerns of the subaltern-oppressed communities. This will be an ethical incentive for the present-day dalit movement in India and can bring greater democratisation to the education system. Harish Wankhede...

-The Business StaNDArd    Draft health insurance guidelines must not remain on paper The insurance regulator’s draft guidelines on health insurance were necessary, given the segment has been plagued with high loss ratios, low penetration and persistent customer complaints. The draft, which proposes changes in every facet &NDAsh; product structure, renewability and claims settlement &NDAsh; is a thoroughly pro-customer document and seeks to plug the various loopholes that have been used to make...

-The Business StaNDArd MSP for forest produce may not work The government’s proposal to set up a minimum support price (MSP) commission to fix assured prices for minor forest produce has pros as well as cons, which need to be weighed carefully before a final call is taken. The proposal envisages the forest MSP panel as having its own elaborate establishment, allowing it to set minimum prices for non-timber forest produce while...