-The Hindu Surveys, including the recently leaked one on consumer expendiTure, point to the economy’s dire state How fast has India grown lately? And, what are the yardsticks on which the country’s performance is being measured? These have remained contentious questions. Following the last decade’s boom, the economy was slowing after 2011-2012, but apparently Turned around under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime. Until very recently, the government claimed the economic success...

-The Hindu India has sustained its progress in reducing stunting and the number of underweight children in the last decade The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) report, brought out recently by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, assumes salience, especially against two important factors. One, the latest Global Hunger Index (GHI), 2019 ranks India at the 102nd position out of 117 countries. Two, India’s past performance in reducing child undernutrition has...

-The Hindu Education is a right, not a privilege reserved for the select elite Even though Jawaharlal Nehru University, where I teach, is in Turmoil because of an incompetent administration incapable of communicating with the students and teachers, the larger crisis confronting the idea of a public university needs to be understood. From Jamia Millia Islamia to Jadavpur University, from Visva-Bharati University to Aligarh Muslim University, and from the University of Hyderabad...

-Livemint.com * Outdated ideas of constructing dams and embankments have increased monsoon floods in India * The attempt to control rivers is the result of a British colonial hangover, even though western countries are moving away from dams In 13 states of India this year, the monsoon appeared in the form of floods. The same happened in the Terai region of Nepal, Karachi and the Neelum valley area in Pakistan, several low-lying districts...

-The Hindu Business Line Fewer straw-management machines were given out than had been sanctioned In Punjab most farmers have their homes right in the middle of their farms. When they clear their field in October to prepare for sowing wheat, they burn the rice stalks left in the field and their homes remain engulfed by smog for weeks. So, if there is an alternative to crop burning, farmers will only be...