-Hindustan Times They are a valuable tool for improved discoms. But they can’t solve what are fundamentally governance failures Much has changed in the electricity sector in the last few years. Electricity generation capacity is now surplus after years of deficits, and the price of solar power has fallen by 70%. But one thing that has barely changed is the performance of the electricity distribution companies (discoms), which continue to bleed money....

-The Hindu Low allocations and specific policy statements point to greater privatisation and withdrawal of the state Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman began her speech by saying that the Union Budget was “woven around three prominent themes” — aspirational India, economic development for all and building a caring society. Achieving any of these would require extraordinary efforts on the social sector front starting with allocating additional resources for health, education, nutrition, employment...

-The Telegraph The power of Keynes’s multiplier process is not absolute An eminent economist observed recently in a national daily’s blog that in spite of the Indian economy’s periodic hiccups, there is no serious threat to the system. “[H]istory,” he asserts, “should give us some pause as we assess the prospects of (the) Indian economy in the medium to long run. There is no denying that the economy is going through a...

-The Telegraph The Opposition’s feebleness at this moment of crisis for our secular, democratic founding principles is deeply worrying Once the chariot starts rolling, it is difficult to stop it. The Union home minister’s announcement in Parliament last week that the National Register of Citizens will be carried out throughout the country, including Assam in the ‘natural course of events’, rang with the confidence of a rolling chariot that can ignore all...

-The Hindu Stimulus measure to link pay to consumer price index with annual revision. Staring at a slump in rural demand and a slowdown in the rural economy, the Centre plans to inject more money into the UPA’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme by linking wages under the Act to an updated inflation index, which will be revised annually. It hopes this will increase wages, thus increasing...