-Live Mint     As a Democracy matures, citizens become more willing to trust elected representatives to plan and take steps for the long-term growth and development One common complaint during this election has been that the election commission (EC) has to be consulted before the government and its regulatory agencies take any routine decision. Decisions relating to gas price hikes and bank licences all had to be cleared by the EC, whose over...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Tuesday stunned the CBI brass, describing the agency as 'department of dirty tricks (DDT)' which had gained disrepute for being the "government's hatchet", clothed in opacity with a perfume of mystery. Gandhi's remarks came while he delivered the 15th D P Kohli Memorial Lecture for CBI on "Eclipse at Noon: Shadows Over India's Conscience" with nearly 3000 officers of...

-The Hindu   If some communities have been denied the benefits of development on grounds of religion, this development is anti-secular, argues Rajeev Bhargava, political theorist Arch rivals the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party continue to trade accusations against each other of playing the communal card in the campaign to the general elections. These are classic instances of the confusion over what secularism is in India. Restoring clarity on the conceptual aspects...

-The New Indian Express     Bangalore: As the battle for the Lok Sabha elections intensifies, the fight against the UPA government's pet Aadhaar project found support on Sunday as a group of academicians and technocrats spoke against the unique identification project in the city. The head of the project - Nandan Nilekani - is a technocrat himself and also the Congress candidate from Bangalore South constituency. In a discussion on the project, organised...

-The Indian Express If parties are sincere about the women's reservation bill, why hasn't there been a minimal debate about its flaws and possibilities? The Congress manifesto commits the party to "the enactment of the Women's Reservation Bill to reserve 33 per cent of all seats in Parliament and state legislative assemblies for women". Other parties are sure to have similar, perhaps even more time-bound, pledges. Those of us who thought that once...