Voice of the People
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INDIA’s decision to allow the duty-free import of 10 lakh tonnes of raw sugar is more than a response to soaring prices; it is a reality check for its ambitious ethanol policy. Less than two years after celebrating the nationwide rollout of E20 petrol, the government now finds itself balancing two competing imperatives — reducing […]
THE Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of “industry” is a watershed for India’s labour law framework. A nine-judge Constitution Bench has held that the expansive interpretation adopted in the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board v. R Rajappa judgment of 1978 will not govern fresh disputes under the Industrial Relations Code (IRC), 2020. The […]
AFFORDABLE access to medical facilities remains out of reach for crores of people in India. A Parliamentary Standing Committee’s report on healthcare in the public and private sectors is starkly illuminating. Citing the National Statistical Office’s 2025 survey, the panel has found that the average cost per hospitalisation is Rs 6,631 in government facilities, compared […]
THE image of the daakiya trudging through mountains has long symbolised the Indian state’s last-mile commitment. India Post’s decision to deploy drones for mail transmission in remote areas of Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh marks not the end of that legacy but its evolution. The logic is compelling. Many Himalayan and North-Eastern villages remain […]
A hospital is meant to be the safest place for the vulnerable. The alleged rape of a 58-year-old woman inside the CT scan room of Haryana’s Panipat Civil Hospital — and her death during treatment at PGIMS, Rohtak — has turned that expectation on its head. While the police investigation will establish criminal culpability, the […]
THE audited financial statements of the PM CARES (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund for 2023-24 and 2024-25 have finally been made available. Only Rs 87.85 lakh was spent during 2024-25 — a dismal 0.01% of the closing balance and minuscule in comparison with Rs 15.6 crore the previous year. The […]
THE Supreme Court has rightly observed that the use of black money in elections compromises democracy as the voter’s choice is influenced by allurements. Indeed, the poll process cannot be genuinely free and fair if ill-gotten wealth has a bearing on how citizens vote and if cases involving electoral offences remain pending for years. The […]
CHANDIGARH’s iconic furniture shows that heritage is not merely about monuments; it is also about the objects that give them meaning. UNESCO’s request to Chicago’s Wright Auction House to suspend the transfer of six Pierre Jeanneret-designed furniture pieces sold for around Rs 83 lakh has changed what appeared to be a routine design auction into […]
THE Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration’s suspension of 14 food business licences linked to Zomato-owned Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy-owned Instamart should serve as a wake-up call for India’s booming quick-commerce industry. The inspections uncovered cockroach infestation, expired food products, poor storage conditions and sanitation failures in several dark stores and warehouses. While the…
THE installation of a safety device that cannot summon help during an emergency is nothing but a farcical exercise in futility. A parliamentary panel has found that panic buttons in buses — introduced after the 2012 Nirbhaya horror in an effort to protect women passengers — have largely remained unused due to a lack of […]
THE decision to record caste through an open-ended question in the upcoming Census is an anticlimax. The government wants enumerators to merely record what respondents say, rather than decide whether a particular surname or sub-caste belongs to a recognised caste category. But the choice raises a key question: can a caste enumeration produce meaningful public […]
THE Indian Railways has invested heavily in station redevelopment, but the Comptroller and Auditor General’s latest audit shows that the country’s busiest public spaces continue to fail passengers on the basics. The findings expose systemic gaps in safety, sanitation and service delivery across a network that carries 292.4 crore non-suburban passengers annually through 5,908 stations […]
THE Supreme Court’s stern reprimand to the Centre and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for the prolonged delay in introducing front-of-pack warning labels has exposed a troubling gap between public health priorities and regulatory action. When the court asked, “Don’t you want people to be healthy?”, it voiced the frustration of […]
THE just-concluded monsoon session of Parliament had the usual sound and fury, but hardly any legislative debate. The numbers are stark. During the 25-day session, the Lok Sabha functioned for only about 19% of its scheduled time, while the Rajya Sabha recorded productivity of around 39%. Twelve Bills were passed by both Houses, yet only […]
