-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 Hindu Instead of the present opaque system, a high-level, broad-based Committee should be formed to choose the country’s “most important” constitutional functionary In May this year, the present Comptroller and Auditor-General will retire on completing 65 years of age. Given the Government of India’s exasperation with him, it seems very probable that for the next CAG, it will look for someone who is likely to be bland and ignorable, and quite...

-The Hindu Even direct reportage of facts is being termed defamatory, says Nikhil Pahwa A bid by a private institution to scrub clean the web of all critical opinion against it and a backdoor censorship facilitated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) have stoked the rage of prominent commentators on Twitter and Facebook. For the second day running on Sunday, the hashtag #IIPM was trending on Twitter across the Indian Twitterverse with several...

-Counter Currents The Aadhaar scheme of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is to provide India's billion-plus people with a unique identification number. Enrolling into the scheme was and still is not mandatory, though it was mentioned that it would be difficult for people to access public services in the absence of enrolment. The scheme requires individuals to provide their photograph, fingerprints and iris scan together with documentary personal information,...

-PTI The government today said it is working on a proposal to allow private traders in additional wheat export from the central stocks as part of its efforts to create space for the new crop. So far, the government has allowed export of 4.5 million tonnes of wheat from the Central pool stocks mainly by State-run trading corporations. "We are thinking of allowing private traders in export of additional wheat from the Food...