-Livemint.com Accountability Yatra aims to cover all 33 districts of Rajasthan in 100 days, and to mobilize people join in and put pressure on the state government to bring in an accountability law Santosh Devi and Raju Devi of Raniwara in Jalore district of Rajasthan are from the Bhil tribal community. They are widows of the same man and live with their grandchild. Earnings are meagre here—every time the postman brought pension...

-Business Standard Chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian discusses the Budget, goods and services tax, Centre-state relationship and larger issues facing the economy with Dilasha Seth, Arup Roychoudhury and Indivjal Dhasmana. Edited excerpts: * In the mid-year economic analysis, you talked of revisiting the fiscal numbers for 2016-17. Is it a view of the chief economic advisor (CEA) or that of the government? I see my role as a member of the government. I...

-The Hindu With the U.S. showing a preference for plurilateral agreements over WTO multilateralism, developing nations must defend the global trading system against transnational corporations The 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which also marked the completion of two decades of functioning of the most recent of the multilateral institutions, ended with an agreement among trade ministers of the member countries that may have pushed the organisation to the...

-GovernanceNow.com A survey in drought-hit Bundelkhand paints a startling picture of farmers in distress Bundelkhand, the land of famous warriors Alha and Udal, is entrapped in an unending battle. But unlike 1857, today there is no ‘harbola’ to tell the stories of sacrifices. Then, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan wrote, “Bundele harbolon ke munh hamne suni kahani thi, khoob ladi mardani voh to Jhansi wali rani thi (from the mouths of storytellers of...

-The Times of India A recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG ) report on the midday meal scheme highlights the major achievements and short falls in its implementation. Dubbed as the largest such scheme attempted anywhere in the world the midday meal scheme stands out for its inclusive approach, being available to each and every child up to the secondary school level, and its direct impact on improving nutrition levels and...