-The Indian Express The reality of rural distress is sinking in only now for policymakers. There can be no better illustration of the vagaries of the weather than Chennai’s streets being inundated with water and the second India-South Africa cricket test in Bangalore suffering washout due to rains, even as drought stalks much of the country. That really is the case today, with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, southern and coastal Karnataka, Rayalaseema...

-FirstPost.com Even as the Narendra Modi government has been making claims that India’s rural economy has gained pace under his rule, empirical evidence suggests that the health of country’s rural economy may not have improved much on account of declining or stagnant income levels. The situation, experts say, is unlikely to change in the near future as there are low chances of a revival in rural income generation. A survey by brokerage...

-The Hindu Over a fifth of non-agricultural workers in India commute to work on foot, followed by commutes by cycle, moped or motorcycle and bus, new data from the Census shows. Fewer than three per cent take cars or vans, and over half travel less than five kilometres. On Thursday, the office of the Registrar General of India released data on commutes for the 200 million working Indians who are neither...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has decided to deduct salaries of officials if they fail to provide services included in the citizen charter within the prescribed time limit. Previously, an applicant was allowed to claim compensation for delays but the government has proposed to make the process automatic and mandatory by amending the ‘Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services) Act 2011’. There are a...

-Outlook New Delhi: One out of every five schools in the national capital does not have the periodic fire safety clearance certificate, according to a review conducted by the Delhi Fire Services which received the highest number of fire- related calls in the past 10 years this Diwali. "At least 20 per cent of the schools in the city – mostly the ones run by the government or municipal corporations – have...