Daily Hindu Editorials

States, Centre should accept the finality ofthe Supreme Court’s decision on the Cauvery. By upholding the approach of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, while slightly modifying its award, the Supreme Court has boosted the prospects of a viable water-sharing arrangement among the riparian States. That it has reduced the Tribunal’s allocation for Tamil Nadu and raised Karnataka’s share does detract from the fairness of the decision. It has underscored that no single State has primacy in accessing water resources and that rivers are national assets. This is a significant recognition of the principle of equitable distribution of inter-State rivers. The Supreme Court’s message is that the Centre should get down to creating a legal and technical framework to implement the Tribunal’s award, as modified by the judgment. This is the strongest affirmation so far of a basin State’s right to its share of water on a regular basis without having to rush to the c...

Without reform of the public health system, insurance schemes are but a band-aid solution The government’s intention to launch the world’s largest health insurance programme, the National Health Protection Scheme, raises an important issue. Should the focus be on the demand side of health-care finance when the supply side, the public health infrastructure, is in a shambles? Experience with insurance schemes, such as the Centre’s Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and Andhra Pradesh’s Rajiv Aarogyasri, show how demand side interventions can miss the mark. While the RSBY and Aarogyasri did improve access to health-care overall, they failed to reach the most vulnerable sections. At times they led to unnecessary medical procedures and increased out-of-pocket expenditure for poor people, both of which are undesirable outcomes. These showed that unless the public health system can compete with the private in utilising funds from such insurance schemes, medical care will r...

As India continues to be hidebound with tradition and rituals, the need for ‘scientific temper’ is essential as never before A few years ago, I was at an international conference in Delhi which dealt with important issues arising from changes brought about by the rapid progress of science and technology. As the meeting progressed, with international experts highlighting the action needed in various fields, I began to feel uncomfortable, much like a diner at a sumptuous buffet searching desperately for that missing ingredient — a pinch of salt. The subject I wanted to hear about but which was being glossed over by the speakers was “scientific temper”. Ultimately, it was left to me to make a case for it, not only for the scientists but also for the common citizen, whatever his or her occupation. What is scientific temper? Let me cite a quote from Jawaharlal Nehru’s book, The Discovery of India: “The impact of science and the modern world have br...

The National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) is being hailed as the biggest takeaway for the aam aadmi in this year’s Budget. Given the noise that is being made around it, one is led into believing that the government has brought the nation into the next generation of health security. Quite expectedly, the Opposition, led by the Congress, has dubbed it “as nothing but a pack of lies”. As there are a few elections this year before the big and major one, the battle lines are being drawn. So, given this impasse in public discourse, how will anyone be able to judge it accurately? The only real way to judge the potential of the NHPS is to review the empirical evidence pertaining to some of the existing publicly-funded health insurance schemes, particularly the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). 🔹Old scheme At the outset, it should be pointed out that the RSBY was rechristened the NHPS in 2016. The Budget promised to provide insurance coverage to an estimated 5...

The PNB fraud must be speedily investigated to restore faith in the banking system. A regulatory filing to the stock exchanges by Punjab National Bank has blown the lid off a ₹11,500-crore fraud. Perhaps the largest such scam in India, it was perpetrated by a maverick diamond merchant in collusion with bank officials at a single branch in South Mumbai. For India’s second largest bank to be defrauded in the manner suggested is astounding, especially since there has been heightened scrutiny of public sector banks’ operations in the last few years. The bank’s audit committees and boards, as well as the central bank, which conducts routine financial inspections of banks’ books, have been ostensibly keeping a close watch on the loans that have turned substandard or are on the verge of default. The government, which has often blamed the pile of bad loans on crony capitalism during the UPA regime, just last month unveiled a plan to infuse about ₹1 lakh cror...

It will enable the legal system to deliver on its promise of empowering the masses YES  | AVANI BANSAL As Kautilya said in the Arthashastra, and during that time, when judges delivered a judgment, they did so in an open court. From then until now, the visual setting of the justice delivery mechanism hasn’t changed much. While the Indian legal system is built on the concept of open courts, which means that the proceedings are open to all members of the public, the reality is different. On any given day, only a handful of people can be physically present and are allowed in the courtroom. Given the technological strides made in every possible field of work, the natural question is, why shouldn’t the legal system benefit from technology? While the courts are now opting for digitisation, with online records of all cases, a provision for filing FIRs online, an automated system of case rotation, etc., there is still a need to push the bar much higher. In the light of these...

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s youthful, popular and telegenic Prime Minister, begins his much anticipated seven-day, five-city state visit of India on February 17. This is his first trip to India after he became Prime Minister in 2015, but he has always had India and Indians around him. He is familiar with Indian rituals and customs. He and his spouse are practitioners of yoga. He can even perform bhangra. He has several friends, advisors and colleagues of Indian origin, given that the Indian diaspora comprising 3.6% of the Canadian population is well-educated, affluent and politically suave. 🔹The Khalistan angle He is particularly close to the Sikh community, which affectionately calls him ‘Justin Singh’. Never in Canadian history have at least 19 persons of Indian origin been elected to the House of Commons, of which 17 (15 Sikhs) represent Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party. He has rewarded four Sikhs with key Cabinet berths. As such these should have been heyda...

Jacob Zuma’s exit as South Africa’s President must lead to an institutional clean-up Jacob Zuma’s resignation as South Africa’s President brings an opportunity to start cleaning up its government and institutions. The ‘Teflon’ president, a moniker the 75-year-old earned for his survival skills, finally gave in to weeks of pressure from his own party, the African National Congress, ending an almost nine-year-long, scandal-hit presidency marred by hundreds of allegations and charges of fraud, money laundering and racketeering. Despite having survived eight no-confidence motions, Mr. Zuma had little choice this time as his own party asked him to resign, with ANC legislators looking inclined towards even a no-confidence motion against him in parliament. The growing pressure on Mr. Zuma was also visible on some of those who allegedly colluded with him, notably the India-born Gupta brothers whose home in the swish Saxonwold suburb of Johannesburg was raide...