-Economic and Political Weekly Documents seized by the Income Tax Department in private corporations imply pay-offs were made to the PM and leading politicians. At 8 pm on 8 November 2016, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to a live broadcast on Doordarshan to make the historic announcement that the government was demonetising notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, emphasising his commitment to ridding India of the “evils of corruption” and...

-The Indian Express These enterprises — whom she broadly categorises as ‘rural commercial capital’ — enjoy privileged access to formal credit networks. In her insightful study of the working of agricultural markets in West Bengal, British development studies scholar Barbara Harris-White has documented in detail how trade in farm produce is controlled through a web of rural and semi-urban agro commercial enterprises. These enterprises — whom she broadly categorises as ‘rural commercial capital’...

-The Indian Express On Independence Day, we salute our freedom fighters. We also remember Lal Bahadur Shastri who gave us the slogan, jai jawan, jai kisan.   PM Modi needs to move from slogans to action to transform agriculture.   Atal Bihari Vajpayee expanded the slogan to jai jawan, jai kisan, jai vigyan. The present government has an array of slogans for the farmers. Prime Minister Modi has coined so many — swacchh bharat,...

-The Hindu A levy on firms, resources from which are earmarked for vocational training, is what could help the country bridge the skill gap in its workforce. Financing technical vocational education and training (VET) is costlier than general education due to its technical nature. Pre-service training requires the installation of equipment and trained instructors to train youth. This raises the cost of training, and remains a factor preventing pre-service training from expanding...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A high-powered government appointed panel on "Decongestion of Traffic in Delhi" has recommended disincentivizing use of private vehicles through deterrent parking pricing and congestion tax. It has also recommended no more huge investment in building flyovers and signal-free corridors. The panel has recommended Rs 20,000 crore interventions through BRTS, buses, walking and cycling infrastructure. Headed by urban development secretary Rajiv Gauba, the committee has noted that 21...