-The Indian Express     Policy design should worry less about public versus private, and more about choice and accountability. The most noteworthy aspect of the Aam Aadmi Party's manifesto is the explicit focus on service delivery. This is what its government will be evaluated on, and attention has shifted from the AAP's political success to how it will deliver on these promises. The ideas below reflect learnings from over a decade of research...

-The Hindu Apprehensions of various sections must be allayed: M.S. Swaminathan UDHAGAMANDALAM (Tamil Nadu): In matters relating to genetically modified (GM) food crops, the government should ‘hasten cautiously,' said eminent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan. He was speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the Wheat Breeding Research Station of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) at Wellington, near here, on Tuesday. When asked about differences within the government over conducting field trials of GM...

-World Resources Institute India struggles with water scarcity, a problem that poses especially huge implications for the country's food security and rural livelihoods. The country has long-battled its scarcity issues through Watershed Development, a participatory approach to improve water management through afforestation and reforestation, sustainable land management, soil and water conservation, water-harvesting infrastructure, and social interventions. But while watershed development has been employed in communities throughout India, its potential long-term costs...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spent Rs 18 crore in Delhi polls and bagged 28 seats. What could have been the expenditure of other political parties is still in the realm of speculation as none has declared their expenses yet. The flying squads of Election Commission and Income Tax had seized Rs 27 crore of unaccounted cash during Delhi polls from political workers, who mainly...

-The Hindu There is no disparagement of subsidies in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh because those who attack the social welfare policies of the Congress regard them as examples of good governance by a party of the Right Three propositions dominate explanations of the Congress party's rout, the Bharatiya Janata Party's impressive victory and the Aam Aadmi Party's stunning success in Delhi in the recent Assembly elections. One, that there is a strong...