-Livemint.com It is not possible to provide ‘maximum governance’ with ‘minimum government’. We need ‘good government’ for ‘good governance’, says Deepak Nayyar The erstwhile Planning Commission closed down soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision on 15 August 2014. Its demise was attributable partly to the ideological belief that planning is passé in this age of markets and globalization and partly to its poor performance combined with growing irrelevance. The...

-Scroll.in Land leasing laws are negatively impacting the people they are supposed to benefit, pulling agricultural productivity down, and increasing land degradation. Nearly one-third of India is reeling under drought, evident from reports and images of distressed farmers and parched land captured in the media. The increasing unpredictability of rainfall and prolonged hot patches has severely impacted rural farmland and, consequently, the people dependent on agriculture. Drought and resultant crop loss, in...

-Business Standard FY10 was a drought year with a monsoon rainfall deficiency of 22 per cent of the 50-year average, resulting in a seven per cent dip in the total foodgrains production. But, that did not dampen the consumer sentiment as the auto sector grew by 26 per cent, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) 25 per cent and the consumer durables sector by 21 per cent. The momentum continued the following year,...

-The Hindu In a sign of change, mothers wage a relentless battle to get their children admission to the seats reserved for the poor in private schools. New Delhi: In her tiny room with a grey refrigerator and a wall-mounted television set, Babita opens up about her dreams. “My children should learn to speak in English,” she says. Two of her children study in private schools, and another in a government school. Private...

-Livemint.com New Delhi: Back from a walk through drought-affected parts of the country, Yogendra Yadav, political scientist and co-founder of non-profit Swaraj Abhiyan, speaks on state compliance of Supreme Court orders, a booming private water market in Marathwada, and why farmer movements are weakest at a time when agrarian distress is at its peak. Edited excerpts from an interview: * You just came back from a trip to Bundelkhand and Marathwada. What...