OR how the politics of subsidies kills the spirit of entrepreneurship…
From NextBillion, comes this story by Rishabh Kaul of an extra-ordinary innovation that is being threatened by the politics of subsidies.
…Last month, the Indian Newspapers were all ablaze with stories of Indian Government rolling out a massive national scheme under which they will provide the women in rural areas with sanitary napkins. While the exact details are unclear, women below the poverty line will be provided with the napkins free of charge where as the rest of the rural women …

This is what I am reading this weekend.
How Bengal towns are becoming transit points for fake notes
West Bengal’s intelligence agencies have expressed concern that Pakistan-and Bangladesh-based racketeers are using the state’s Murshidabad and Malda districts as transit points to smuggle in fake notes to India.
Statistics reveal fake notes of nearly Rs 2.5 crore was seized from more than 300 people arrested over the past five years…
The arrested people revealed Murshidabad and Malda as transit points for the fake money racket.
…Chapai Nawabgunj is one of many centres in Bangladesh where …

Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this guest post by Sh Krishen Kak titled, “Yatha Raja, Tatha Prashasan”. The article was originally published in VijayVaani earlier this week. Following a suggestion by Sh Krishen-ji, I am also reproducing below some of the comments on this post from VijayVaani. Read on (emphasis mine).
*** Yatha Raja, Tatha Prashasan  by Krishen Kak ***
Each year, for about a month, I volunteer with an NGO that coaches candidates for the UPSC’s civil services interviews (officially, “personality tests”).
Each candidate, for interaction with subject …

…and we are in no hurry to do anything about it.
Excerpts from a very worrying article by Suman Sharma in Open Magazine (Hat Tip: Centerof right; emphasis mine):
Repeated violations of the Indo-Chinese border lead to an escalation in the war of words, but India continues to believe that the Chinese are following their usual pattern of aggravation and conciliation. Rapid Reaction Forces, comprising 4 divisions stationed at Chengdu and Lanzhou after an overnight mobilisation cross rapidly into Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh.
Indian defences are caught unawares, but the Fifth Mountain …

This is what I’m reading as I find myself stuck in a travel black hole…
1. R Jagannathan on why “Manmohan Singh is the dynasty’s fall guy” (emphasis mine)…
Both the prime minister and the home minister have minced no words in calling a spade a spade. While Manmohan Singh has called the Maoists the biggest security threat to the country, P Chidambaram has promised tough action to deal with it. But here’s the point: months after launching Operation Green Hunt, it is not clear who’s hunting whom. The Maoists have been …