-The Indian Express West Bengal is not new to chit fund scams. What is unique to the Saradha Group scandal is how it targeted the poorest and the most marginalised, leaving them on the verge of devastation. From 17-year-old agents who raised money from depositors to 50-year-old widows who invested money, the Saradha Group didn't discriminate in roping them in. Since the house of cards started collapsing, two agents and two...

-The Hindu Even as thousands come to terms with the loss of life savings in the West Bengal "chit funds," it is interesting to find politicians promising new stern laws against such funds. Absence of laws is the least of the reasons for such schemes flourishing in the State. We are not short of such laws - in fact, we have plenty of laws that prohibit such schemes and provide for...

-The Telegraph A parliamentary panel has recommended that the Union government dissolve the ministry of development of north eastern region (DoNER) and put it under the Prime Minister's Office. The reason for the ministry's dissolution has been attributed to the plummeting efficiency levels and achievement rate in its planned schemes. "The committee, therefore, strongly recommends that the government should consider the handicaps of the DoNER ministry in a very serious manner. It should...

-The Telegraph YOGAPUR (Patna): Chief minister Nitish Kumar wants "light" in every household but there is darkness right under his nose. Barely 30km off Patna, Yogapur's inhabitants - mostly Mahadalits, Dalits and backward classes whom Nitish has tried his best to empower - have never seen power (electricity) in their village. The chief minister has vowed not to seek votes in the 2015 elections if his power dream tripped. But, it seems, there...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Supreme Court judgment on the Novartis-Glivec case is remarkable because it has gone beyond the specific technical and legal issues surrounding patents and has put the matter in a much larger political and economic perspective. The deeper implication of the judgment is that it is not only justified to deny patents when incremental innovation is trivial as in the Glivec case. The judgment has linked the...