-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union environment ministry has reclassified industries depending on their pollution potential, ranging from 60 "red" category units prohibited from ecologically fragile and protected areas to 36 "white" industries that will not require any environmental clearance. The list released today after a year-long internal exercise is intended to appropriately reflect the pollution potential of India's diverse industrial units taking into account their emissions, effluents, hazardous wastes and consumption...

-TheWire.in Action now shifts to the states which will have the first real opportunity to react to a new, and still evolving fiscal landscape One of the most dynamic features over the last three budgets has been the apparent consolidation of centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) — schemes like MGNREGA and National Health Mission, which are formulated by the Union government on subjects from the State List to encourage states to prioritise on...

-The Indian Express Gamlina’s response is just one example of how distant this government is from the lives of the poor and how tokenistic its schemes are. Gamlina Soren, an elected panchayat member in Jharkhand, sounded upset. She had been told by a local BJP functionary that gas cylinders were going to be “gifted” to poor women by the Centre but that they must have a BPL card. “But most poor Adivasi...

-Frontline The Living and Learning Design Centre in a Kutch village is about dialogue between contemporary designers and traditional artisans and about keeping crafts relevant. Kutch: “WHY here? Why a design centre of such sophistication in a small village off a highway?” The answer flashes in one’s mind at the same time: “Because that’s the most logical and relevant PLAce for it.” The answer is validated a while later in a...

-AP/Bloomberg Whether Modi can raise farmer incomes without stoking inflation may determine if his economic vision is any different from the previous Congress-led govt New Delhi: Shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power in 2014, his first economic PLAn promised modern cities, manufacturing corridors and bullet trains to aspirational Indians yearning to join a ‘neo middle class.’ This week his latest budget struck a much different tone, listing a slew...