Most of the state, including the residents of the twin cities got a respite from the sweltering heat-wave with the onset of the Southwest monsoon. But for the majority of the people, the wait for safe, accessible, affordable and assured drinking water supply is going to be much longer. Decades ago, the traditional source of drinking water used to be a small lake or a nearby stream or a bore well. Thanks to the chaotic and unplanned growth, most of the lakes are in a state of utter disrepair and are close to dying.

The past few days gave us good, strong showers of rain that were long overdue.  But heavy rains also brought with them longer power cuts to many homes.   But, to have power interruptions we do not need heavy rains - the current supply could be knocked out even by the weakest of winds and the lightest among drizzles.  While such power cuts certainly are an inconvenience and a nuisance to us consumers, they also reflect a far more serious problem.  They indicate inefficiencies in our electrical network that directly result in huge losses to the public money.

There has been a lot of debate and commentary during the run-up to Maharashtra Assembly election and after the results, about the political fallout at the union level. But the important issue of free power has been largely neglected.

align="left">One of the great topics of public discussion in recent decades among all economists, journalists, public policy enthusiasts and enlightened citizens is the rapid growth of China. India – China comparison is now the favourite pastime of economists. Both are emerging as major economic powers. China has been growing at 9 percent or more per annum, compared with India’s more modest 6 percent over the past two decades. This difference in growth means that Chinese economy doubles itself every 8 years, whereas it takes about 12 years for India!

The recent paralysis of public transport in AP on account of the RTC employees strike once again brought to the fore the debate between public sector and private sector. That we need competition and private initiative for improving productivity and quality of consumer goods and services is by now well-established. While there may have been a case for public investment in sectors like steel, government dabbling in business did more harm than good in the long term.