Best of BS Opinion: The trust deficit, cleaning up taxes, and more

Here's a selection of Business Standard opinion pieces for the day

From protests against laws redefining citizenship and agri-marketing to suspicions over the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine and leaks about internal differences over economic policy, the National Democratic Alliance government appears to be suffering from a severe case of hubris. As our lead editorial notes, the Modi government may still be popular but these events suggest that a non-political opposition can be as powerful as a political one.
 

Other opinion pieces for the day, among other things, talk about farm protests and tax reforms.
 

An agricultural marketing system designed to reflect the diversity of the Indian agro-economy and the interests of small farmers and low-income consumers will be consistent with efficiency, equity and national security, writes Nitin Desai
 

As economies develop and become more formalised, they have to increase their reliance on direct taxation, particularly income taxes. Unfortunately, India has not been working on doing so — and, in fact, in recent years has been going in the opposite direction, while attempting to raise cesses only on the highest end taxpayers, notes our second editorial
 

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“We said this last time that entry to Delhi has to be seen under Delhi police. Invoke all your powers to see whether farmers can be allowed in the city, but who can be allowed or not are matters of law and order and will be dealt by police. We cannot be the first authority here.”

Chief Justice of India S A Bobde