Daily Hindu Editorials

Watching the Republic Day parade, where 10 ASEAN leaders were chief guests, it was easy to miss the fact that the dates of their visit also marked the anniversary of another big visit three years ago: the visit by then U.S. President Barack Obama, when he announced a “breakthrough” in the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal, to finally pave the way for a commercial contract. “The deal is done,” Sujatha Singh, who was Foreign Secretary at the time, said as the government issued papers and held briefings describing the nature of the agreement between India and the U.S. on supplier liability and tracking requirements, which would enable American companies to build nuclear power reactors in India. 🔷  A decade on Today, nearly a decade since the memoranda of understanding were inked, and three years after the last wrinkles were ironed out, there is no sign yet of any concrete contract between an American company and the Indian authorities to build a reactor. In 2009, both GE-Hitachi and Toshib

The Centre must draw up an implementation roadmap for the new health scheme The NDA government lost precious time in its first three years in initiating a health scheme that serves the twin purposes of achieving universal coverage and saving people from high health care costs. It announced two years ago in the Budget a health protection scheme offering a cover of ₹1 lakh per family, but ultimately that did not extend beyond ₹30,000. Fresh hopes have been raised with the announcement of Ayushman Bharat in Budget 2018. The plan has the components of opening health centres for diagnostics, care and distribution of essential drugs as envisaged in the National Health Policy, and a National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) to provide a cover of up to ₹5 lakh each for 10 crore poor and vulnerable families for hospitalisation. These are challenging goals, given the fragmented nature of India’s health system. Some States already purchase health cover for the poor, but do not regulate private se

With the diverse nature of political competition in each of the three northeastern States — Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya — going to polls in mid-February, it is difficult to say what may be the overall trend. But though there are many regional parties contesting elections besides the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the spotlight will be on the performance of the BJP. 🔷  The BJP presence The BJP is unlikely to form the government in any of these States, but it is likely to make its presence felt in a big way by contesting elections either alone or in alliance with smaller regional parties. It is clear that the BJP is trying hard to make its presence felt in the northeastern States. This is not for the sake of adding to its tally in the Lok Sabha (these States account for only five seats), but the BJP is trying hard to send out a signal that its reach extends beyond the Hindi heartland. Even though the BJP is not a dominant political force in the northeast, by forming alli

The Rajasthan bypoll victory has given the Congress a ray of electoral hope Byelections are not clear pointers to the direction of the political wind, even when they are held close to a general election. A host of local factors are often at play, and selection of candidates and civic grievances exercise as much influence on the voter’s mind as do livelihood concerns and governance issues. Even so, the results of the Rajasthan byelections would have jolted the ruling BJP. The Congress not only won the two Lok Sabha seats and the lone Assembly seat, but it did so with impressive margins. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election the BJP made a complete sweep of Rajasthan, winning all 25 seats. The Congress’s recovery of some of the lost ground reflects a general dissatisfaction with the Vasundhara Raje government. Ms. Raje seems to have paid the price for an imperious attitude that alienated large sections within her own party. True, Rajasthan voters have not given either the BJP or the Congress t