Then Clive Lloyd took over the West Indies cricket team, he knew he was no Garfield Sobers. Lloyd focused on infusing discipline and strategy sessions with the team. "Both exceptional leaders, Sobers led by example, while Lloyd built a team. I suspect Jairam Ramesh is more like Sobers," an environment analyst sums up his assessment of the minister. The Sobers analogy crops up, in explicit and implicit ways, in any...

President Pratibha Patil today reaffirmed the government’s resolve “to maintain the momentum for reforms on a wide front”, prompting policymakers to outline the possible economic agenda ahead of the budget just a week away. Top officials offered their take on the phrase, mentioned in Patil’s speech to Parliament at the start of the budget session. According to the them, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee are looking to...

Even four years after the Sachar Committee Report revealed that Muslims were one of the most economically backward and socially disadvantaged communities, nothing much has been done to address the development deficits of this community. The Constitution of the republic of free India was crafted in troubled but idealistic times. The Indian people were still reeling from Partition bloodshed and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, in the dark shadows of politics...

The Rural Development Ministry has allowed the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC), the apex monitoring agency of the NREGS, to lapse on the completion of its tenure in September last year. “We have not been communicated about the reconstitution of the CEGC as yet. It will be unfair on our part to enquire about it from the ministry, as it may be considered as lobbying for re-nomination,” one of the non-official...

The Union Home Ministry is pressing ahead with pushing the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2005 for consideration and passing in the budget session of Parliament, even though it was summarily rejected by the National Advisory Council, which is currently drafting an entirely new law.Expressing surprise, NAC sources told The Hindu that Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had communicated to the government that the Council was drafting a new Bill,...