If the combined Opposition had sat down for weeks so as to find an issue to embarrass the UPA Government and make it a laughing stock before the whole country, they could not have thought of a better issue than the free gift presented to it by the UPA Government by initially insisting that it had irrevocably decided to allow the entry of multi-brand retail leader superstores like Walmart, USA...
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Learnt in Godhra, forgotten in Jaipur by Aakar Patel
It is difficult to explain to Indians the wrongness of collective punishment. This is because our identity is collective, and so is our behaviour This month is the 10th anniversary of the incident at Godhra and the events in Gujarat that followed. When the violence began, it was said that the media had made the violence worse. Often this was by its innocence and sometimes by its malice. Was this true? The...
More »Rainy Days by Arti Sharma
Central pension plan NPS finally gets a boost The ‘New’ NPS Measure: Improve incentives for distributors. Has been recently implemented. Impact: Was required. But won’t be enough, need consumer education to build volumes. Proposal: Increase fund management fees with an option to lower later. Impact: Under consideration. But finance ministry unhappy with increase in costs. Proposal: Relax the norms to appoint more fund managers to increase distribution. Impact: Unlikely. At...
More »Corruption a crime: Sonia
-The Telegraph Sonia Gandhi decried corruption in the rural jobs scheme as a “crime against the poor”, the words coming on a day the Supreme Court cancelLED over 100 graft-tainted 2G licences. “We cannot ignore cases of corruption in this scheme. Corruption in MGNREGA is a crime against the poor people,” the Congress chief said at a programme organised here to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the scheme. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...
More »Snakes and ladders by Amartya Sen
Like many board games that were developed in India, of which chess is perhaps the most important and famous, the game of “snakes and ladders” too emerged in this country a long time ago. With its balancing of snakes that pull you down and ladders that take you up, this game has been used again and again as a metaphor for life, telling us about our fortunes and misfortunes, and...
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