-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Amid growing public outrage over the Kathua and Unnao incidents, a collective of retired civil servants has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the current situation a “moment of existential crisis” in which the government’s response would determine whether the nation could “overcome the crisis of constitutional values, of governance and the ethical order”. In a strongly worded letter that sought to pin the blame...
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Aadhaar data safe, govt. affirms in Supreme Court -Krishnadas Rajagopal
-The Hindu Chief Justice Misra asks why people preferring anonymity are also compelled to part with their personal data to access services. The government has assured the Supreme Court that Aadhaar is not a “fly-by-night effort to score some brownie points” and personal data collected from millions of people is safe from breach in storage facilities barricaded behind five-feet thick walls. Appearing before a Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak...
More »Rajasthan withdraws Bill to gag media and shield judges, Government Servants -Mohammad Hamza Khan
-The Indian Express In a reply to the Budget debate in the Assembly, Vasundhara Raje said, "We sent the Bill to the Select Committee, we let the ordinance lapse and today it is not law, what should we withdraw? But we are still withdrawing it.” Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Monday announced the withdrawal of a controversial Bill that sought to gag the media and shield judges and Government Servants from...
More »Lessons from Thailand: For universal health coverage, invest in public systems and human resources -T Sundararaman
-Scroll.in Thailand spends as much of its GDP on health as India, yet it offers the entire range of healthcare services to all citizens for free. Finance Minister Arun Jailtley’s Budget speech this year and the subsequent media coverage projected insurance coverage as being almost synonymous with universal health coverage. Nothing could be further from the truth. Health insurance is only a small part of ensuring universal health coverage. Besides, to...
More »There's No Reason to Be Confused on How to Calculate the Right MSP -R Ramakumar
-TheWire.in The Swaminathan Commission was clear in its recommendations, and the rationale offered by the NITI Aayog to rule out the use of comprehensive cost is dubious at best. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced in Budget 2018-19 that his “government has decided to keep MSP [minimum support price] for the all unannounced crops of kharif at least at one and half times of their production cost”. This announcement set off a flurry...
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