Left, Right & Centre

The Delhi High Court this week has pulled up private hospitals saying they can't hold patients hostage for unpaid bills. In a country where private healthcare is out of the question for most, many would give this a thumbs up, but others argue running a hospital is a commercial activity too not a charity, so how can they recover their costs?

Arvind Kejriwal, emerging from a stinging defeat in Delhi, today listed a series of dos and don'ts for his partymen elected to Delhi's civic corporation, which the BJP retained in a huge win. He's told them to be vigilant, honest, brave, even going on to say if you betray us, you are betraying God.

Should farm income be taxed? That is at the centre of a fresh debate after NITI Aayog Member, Bibek Debroy, in a press conference, argued that the government should "tax the rural sector, including agriculture income above a certain threshold". It has been spoken of in the past but is clearly a politically sensitive subject. Does it make good economics? Opinion is divided given the vast numbers - up to 90-95% of the farmers will not make it to this tax bracket - so is there anything to gain?

The BJP has retained, by huge margins, all three municipal corporations in Delhi for which elections were held on Sunday. The only contest today was for a poor number two between Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. AAP gets that consolation prize, with the Congress third in all the municipalities. The Congress' Delhi chief Ajay Maken has resigned, while AAP has alleged that rigged voting machines led to its rout. BJP chief Amit Shah credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance for the victory and said, "The people of Delhi have rejected negative politics, the politics of excuses."

On Left, Right and Centre, we speak to Mrs India 2017 Queen of substance Captain Shalini Singh and second runner up Mrs Jyoti Rupal. These aren't just beauty pageant winners, these are women who have faced the most unbelievable circumstances in life and come out on top.

The Bombay High Court today granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur who is accused of plotting the September 2008 blasts in Maharashtra's Malegaon, in which six people were killed. Another accused, Lt. Colonel Shrikant Purohit has, however, been denied bail. The two have been in jail for over eight years now. Though Sadhvi Pragya was moved to a Bhopal hospital recently for medical treatment, it has raised questions once again on the investigation and more importantly the political influence over such cases.

Delhi University students may now study Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone as part of their English curriculum. The proposal has generated a heated debate with as always strong views on both sides. A copy of the modified syllabus has been sent to all colleges by English department for feedback.

At least 25 CRPF or Central Reserve Police Force jawans have been killed in an encounter with Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district. They were from the 74 battalion of the CRPF. It was a road-opening party of the force that was attacked by the Maoists. This is the worst Maoist attack on security forces since the April 2010 attack in Dantewada district which killed 76 CRPF personnel. We ask, do we need a new tactic in dealing with red terror?

The government has made NCERT books mandatory for all CBSE schools across the country. While some are happy with move as they say it's a relief for millions for parents forced by schools to purchase textbooks from private publishers, often at prices 300-600% higher than the NCERT books, some educationalists are up in arms against the move saying that NCERT books are sub-standard and have not evolved with changing times.

We get an exclusive interview with Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma who talks about being on the latest list of the Time magazine's most influential persons in the world and what's his take on latest Aadhaar security controversy.