-Hindustan Times Delhi: The Delhi government launched the FIRst of its 54 model schools, which has audio-visual teaching aids, projectors in classrooms and a swanky building on Wednesday. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had in 2015 announced that it will turn 54 of its schools as a pilot project to bring government schools at par with private schools. While all the shortlisted schools are undergoing renovation, Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Rouse Avenue was the...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court’s verdict that ordinances are subject to judicial review, and do not automatically create enduring effects, places a timely check on a power rampantly abused by governments On January 2, in one of many judgments delivered on its FIRst working day of the year, the Supreme Court, in Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar, made a series of pronouncements with potentially huge implications for the future of...

-The Hindu The idea of a basic income is not new. The FIRst known suggestion on an unconditional universal basic income for all adults regardless of other income sources was from Thomas More. Centuries later, in 1918, Bertrand Russell discussed a basic income sufficient for necessities as central to the social model combining the advantages of anarchism and socialism that he argued for in Proposed Roads to Freedom. “A certain small...

-The Hindu With the cash crunch situation easing, Reserve Bank of India may do away with the weekly withdrawal limits from banks as well as ATMs by the end of next month, bankers said. The RBI had recently raised the ATM withdrawal limit to Rs. 10,000 a day but maintained the weekly cap at Rs. 24,000 for savings account and Rs. 1 lakh for current account holders. “I think the restrictions on withdrawal...

As opposed to what has been said officially about the positive impact of demonetisation on rabi sowing, acreage actually declined in 2016-17 as compared to a normal year. Let us see why this has been so. On New Year’s Eve, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the nation post-demonetisation, among other things, said: “...Friends in the last few weeks, an impression was sought to be created that the agriculture sector...