-Hindustan Times Delhi air pollution hit severe levels on Tuesday, prompting officials to shut down junior sections in schools and recommend a four-fold hike in parking fees as well as a cut in Metro fares. New Delhi gasped for oxygen on Tuesday as a toxic haze reduced visibility, affected flights and trains, and prompted chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to describe the national capital as a “gas chamber”. (Highlights) Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia...

-Firstpost.com Development economist Jean Dreze has been vociferous critic of the Narendra Modi government's demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes a year back. He had famously warned that "demonetisation in a booming economy is like shooting at the tyres of a racing car". A year on, it seems his caution has come true. In the first quarter of the current financial year, the GDP growth slowed to a three-year...

-The New Indian Express NEW DELHI: Amid controversial reports of hunger deaths in Jharkhand due to PDS beneficiaries being turned away, economist Jean Dreze says that even official records show that a significant proportion of people are being deprived of food rations every month. In an interview with New Sunday Express, the prime mover behind the NREGA welfare scheme said “this does not mean that Aadhaar is solely responsible for the failures...

-The Telegraph Calcutta: A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme has suggested that the Paris Agreement would fail to restrict the global temperature rise within 2°C, as agreed at the Paris climate summit of 2015. It says that even if all the countries fully meet their commitments to cut emissions as expressed in their respective "nationally determined contributions"' (NDCs) in Paris, it would address "approximately one-third of the emissions reductions"...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A group of Indian doctors has urged the Narendra Modi government to resist any US government or industry pressure to reverse its decisions earlier this year to impose price caps on coronary stents and knee implants. The Association of Doctors for Ethical Practices (ADEH) said on Wednesday that it is hoping the Indian government will "remain firm" on its decision to cap the prices of the devices because...