-Down to Earth The circular economy of cattle has ruptured, threatening livelihoods of India’s poorest. The value output of the livestock economy is Rs 9.18 lakh crore, managed mostly by small and marginal farmers It is almost a year since Rahamdin Khan hasn’t got any good sleep. A resident of Khoabas, a bucolic village of 500 households at the foothills of Aravalli mountain range in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, Rahamdin witnessed a cruel...

-The Economic Times Even though the scheme had been ranked as the world's largest public works programme by the World Bank, it is being systematically undermined with illegal restrictions on its budget allocation, severe payment delays and low wages. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been a tried and tested measure to target rising unemployment and ease rural distress in the country. The Rural Employment programme, which guarantees 100...

-The Hindu Unless the Government is transparent about details, it will be engulfed in yet another controversy In December, the French company Électricité de France (EDF) submitted a “techno-commercial proposal” to the Indian Government for the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra. The idea of importing six nuclear European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) was initiated by the United Progressive Alliance Government more than a decade ago, but the project had made little progress...

-The Hindu Communities are ‘far behind’ in terms of human development, says survey of 1,000 households by Professor Amartya Sen’s institute Two months after the West Bengal Government denied any food scarcity as a possible cause of death of seven persons from a tribal community, a survey report has identified “food scarcity in varying degrees” in about 31% of tribal households in West Bengal. The study titled ‘An Inquiry into the world of...

-The Hindu Business Line The new series data cannot really be faulted. But it is important not to repeat the policy mistakes that hit industrial growth The 2011-12 base backdated GDP series led to much discussion. The reduction in past growth rates gave them a political colour. It is unfortunate if the independence of the CSO and associated experts is questioned just because of this coincidence. A rebasing that uses much richer...