-Live Mint   Prakash Javadekar's environment ministry proposes reduction in parameters defining forests as inviolate New Delhi: On a day it took the environment approval process online, the new government proposed diluting the norms for allowing industrial units in forest areas, moving to clear a logjam in project mandates that industry groups allege has contributed to declining economic growth. Not only will it make the process of environment clearances easier, the norms, once changed,...

-The Pioneer   Bhubaneswar: Home is an integral part of life and determinant of standard of living and progress of society. Rural Odisha witnesses a very poor standard of habitation and lack of proper housing for lakhs of poor people who are dreaming of a house of their own to live with dignity. Socio-cultural barriers, landlessness and lack of credit for housing are some of the major reasons which deprive rural poor of...

-The Hindu     In the ‘development versus environment' debate, the demand is always for a compromise on environmental concerns, never for a moderation of developmental activities There is hope in the air: years of corruption, ‘policy paralysis' and a non-functioning government are gone and there is a forceful, efficient, decisive leader at the helm. However, while joining in the national mood of hope and expectation, may one add a word of caution about...

-Outlook   The author of the surprise international bestseller, Capital, in the 21st Century, thinks that abolishing Income Tax is not a good idea Books on economy rarely move beyond the peer group of economists and their academic circle. But those old presumptions are now being put to the test and the rules are being rewritten from the time 42-year old French economist, Thomas Piketty, went viral. The publication of the English edition...

-Live Mint   With a new political transition, it may be a good idea for the new government to work on an idea as to how to enable all health workers across the country to have data-enabled smartphones If you have no electricity, you can survive despite inconvenience; if you have no pucca house, you still survive on thatched shelters; if you have bad roads, you can still communicate on the patched...