The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s suggestion to recruit the Civil Servants after 10+2 (Intermediate) has generated an interesting debate on the various possibilities of recruiting civil servants. The candidates selected after the usual entrance exams will be put in a national academy and after completing three years will get a graduate degree. The meritorious students among them will then go for a service-oriented course in the academy for two years. On successful completion of which, the candidate will get an MBA degree and would be inducted in the services.

In India, we have three seasons:  the festival season, cricket and then the election season.  Of these, the schedule for festivals and cricket tourneys appears to have at least some regularity and order.  After all, it is not too difficult to figure out on which date the Ganesh Puja falls or when an India vs. Pakistan match is, in a given year.  But speaking of the Indian election season, it could be upon us like a bin bulaye mehmaan.

Over the past five decades, the representational base of our legislatures has definitely broadened.  Unfortunately, this has not translated into more number of women as MLAs or MPs.  The representation of women in Lok Sabha has remained more or less stagnant at a very low 9% over the years.

The recent release of data on religions by Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India has kicked off a debate on growth rates of religions in India. There are quite a large number of ‘experts’ who are indulging in hairsplitting analysis of behavioral/attitudinal differences towards birth control among the members practicing different religions in India.  However, most of us have failed to notice that there seems to be a common bond that unites people of India with reference to their attitude towards the girl child i.e., to kill them.

The first phase of polling has come to an end. Times of India and other newspapers carried stories of voters being turned away from the polling booths though they had genuine photo identity cards. The people who could not vote are neither hard-core criminals in prison nor are they aliens from Mars. They are ordinary citizens of this country and yet they were denied their inalienable right to vote. The reason – their name did not figure in the voters list!

One of the key challenges of public management in India is the absence of horizontal linkages and coordination. As a result, the right hand does not seem to know what the left hand does. What is the evidence?

According to news reports, two young men of Mumbai, both scions of political families, have purchased a 6-acre property of Kohinoor Mills in a competitive bidding process at an astronomical price of Rs 421crore. Given Mumbai’s skyrocketing real estate prices, this may well be a reasonable investment. And in a market economy, it is no sin to be wealthy. As Deng Hsiao Ping said, it is glorious to be rich.

To Paraphrase Dickens, we seem to be living in the best of times, and in the worst of times!

On the one hand, there is undiluted exultation among growth enthusiasts.  Low tax rates, 9% growth, high savings, declining deficits – all seem to be promising.  “If only we pursue the reform agenda, particularly in pension, insurance, and labour sectors, things will only get better”, claim market fundamentalists.

The government’s announcement of review of the policy on rehabilitation of land-losers in SEZs indicates the complexity and contention involved in land utilization and industrialization in a densely-populated, poor country like India.