-The Business Standard NHAI approves Rs 6,000 cr of premium deferment for 9 projects, on basis of March guidelines In a major relief to road developers, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has approved deferment of premium worth Rs 6,000 crore for nine projects, including those of Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Infrastructure. The board of NHAI met on Friday and gave a final approval to the nine applications, said a senior...

-Live Mint   If anything, the UPA has been punished by the voters for moving away from its core agenda of entitlement-based politics The victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 elections will remain a watershed moment for Indian democracy in many ways than one. Coming at a time when the economy is in a serious mess, the victory of the BJP and the defeat of the Congress party and...

-The Hindustan Times   Like all other children, 11-year-old Gayatri Kachari loves playing. And if play involves water, she loves it even more. For many children at Sajjanpara Lower Primary School in Assam's Kamrup district, the three minutes spent washing their hands as a group before their mid-day meal is the highlight of the day. The children cheerfully sing the "Hand Washing song" as they scrub their hands under running water...

-The Business Standard   A seven-point agenda to fix India's public services, and overcome poorly designed systems India's Achilles Heel remains its inability to deliver public services. India's aspiration to be a global economic power will be unrealised if this remains unsolved. Why is this problem so particularly acute? Is it political interference and corruption, poorly designed programmes and weak administration? Or a much deeper cultural problem of aversion to collective action, often...

-The Business Standard   Or, why our subsidy and tax policies have been almost exactly wrong Thomas Piketty's seminal book on inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, comes at a fortuitous time. Although inequality has been a well-discussed issue in India for some time now, the success of the book contributes by sharpening the debate. It complements the McKinsey Global Institute's (MGI) report titled "From poverty to empowerment: India's imperative for jobs, growth,...