MEN & MORALS - The secret to happiness: Don't just make a living, make a life

Everyone I know was profoundly relieved when the China-India stand-off at Doklam ended last month in a mutual pullback.Many of us were deeply grateful to Bhutan for standing by India and we longingly yearned for similarly good relations with our other neighbours. Bhutan has, of course, become famous for pioneering Gross National Happiness to replace Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of national success.

संदर्भ... फीस कंट्रोल की बजाय सरकारी स्कूलों की गुणवत्ता बढ़ाएं और शिक्षा में निवेश को बढ़ावा दें

Why governments shouldn't mess with private school fees

Imagine you are a young, idealistic person and you start a private school. You hire inspired teachers like yourself. The school does well and gets a nice reputation. Then a new law, the Right to Education Act (RTE) comes in 2010. It mandates parity with teacher salaries in government schools. You are forced to triple your teachers' salaries to Rs 25,000 per month. Even Doon School has to raise its salaries. The law also insists that 25% of your students must come from poor families.

Some of us remember from our schooldays the opening lines of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” This is not only the most famous beginning of an English novel but it also captures the contradictions in our present-day life in India. Let me illustrate with two recent events.

This defines a visionary moment as the country chooses 'pooled sovereignty'

The tax reform is expected to transform the business landscape but will test India's weak administrative capacity © AP There are rare moments when a nation will do the sensible thing despite itself. Such a moment will come this weekend when India introduces the most far-reaching tax reform in its history.

नियति से मिल ने का एक और ऐतिहासि क क्षण