-Frontline Social development indicators in Gujarat are poor, proving that development in the State is lopsided On a hot day last November near Rajkot, Ramjibhai Patel, an octogenarian farmer, pointed to the middle distance and said, “See that lake?” There was indeed a shimmer in the dry landscape indicating water, but after a relatively poor monsoon, it seemed improbable. Chuckling, he said, “Yes, I see doubt on your face and you are...

-The Times of India Why isn't aam admi smiling? The question's relevant, since some cheer's apparent in government circles over wholesale price index-based inflation falling to 6.62% in January. Headline inflation, it's said, will drop further by March-end. To common people, the WPI inflation figure's a meaningless number. If WPI inflation's dipped a fourth successive month, food prices have been riding high for far longer. Policymakers periodically recommend release of foodgrains from...

-The Times of India More than five months after the CBI began investigating Coalgate, the agency is yet to receive hundreds of files from the coal ministry as it probes charges of criminality in allocation of coal blocks to private players. Although CBI has been sifting through an enormous mass of information regarding coal block allocations that the CAG has said caused a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the government,...

-The Hindu Tapes suggest prosecutor, accused and star witness colluded to vitiate SC directions to CBI The exposure of an apparent conspiracy between the CBI prosecutor in the 2G scam investigation, A.K. Singh, and the accused Unitech Managing Director, Sanjay Chandra, could have grave consequences since it reveals a deliberate attempt to pull the wool over the Supreme Court’s eyes under whose supervision the entire investigation and prosecution has been occurring since...

-The Telegraph Even reformed capitalism cannot give equal opportunity There is a view that the real problem with capitalism is that there is no equality of opportunity under this system. Your entire life gets determined by which class you happen to get born into. If the effect of this ‘happenstance’ could somehow be eliminated, so that everyone enjoyed equality of opportunity, then even though income and wealth inequalities continued to remain...