-The Indian Express Higher education in India is failing. Overhauling the system can salvage it Let me start with a blunt statement: India’s higher education is in general a decrepit, dilapidated system, it’s afflicted by a deep malaise. The National Knowledge Commission—Report to the Nation (2006-9) put it only a bit more mildly: “There is a quiet crisis in higher education in India which runs deep”. Three widely acknowledged criteria for judging an...

-TheWire.in Re-promulgation of ordinances is illegal, the apex court ruled, in a judgment that will be applicable to all central ordinances, including demonetisation. Thanks to a recent Supreme Court judgment declaring the re-promulgation of ordinances unconstitutional, the government’s effort to validate demonetisation through ordinances may come to naught. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, promulgated in December to give effect to demonetisation, faces the risk of becoming unconstitutional if re-promulgated after...

-TheWeekendLeader.com Chennai: In Tamil Nadu, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s posthumous omnipresence is best reflected in the success of the 657 Amma Unavagams (canteens) that serve piping hot fare at unbelievably low RATes to anyone who walks in looking for a satisfying meal.   These canteens provide barrier free access and are managed efficiently by a dedicated, diligent and disciplined army of women. Some even wake up at the crack of dawn and start...

-The Indian Express Studying micro economies such as Bastar gives us the tools to highlight the rising inequality between the bourgeoise and proletariat. New Delhi: In Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar’s meticulously researched book, The Burning Forest: India’s War in Bastar, the plight of the adivasis struggling to make ends meet paints a striking picture of the growing wage disparity in the “Maoist state”. Wages paid to the adivasis are strictly controlled...

-TheWire.in Using tax collection numbers as signifiers of robust economic activity may be highly optimistic. One of the most interesting questions in Indian macroeconomics today is – how are we faring since late 2016? In this article, I seek to analyse data on tax revenues and obtain some clues about the performance of the economy. In a press release published on January 9, the central government reported the following increases in tax collections...