-The Hindu Citizens should not be asked to provide the same information more than once to government agencies In June 2014, the Modi government set out to change how the government worked. At that time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in a meeting of Union Secretaries about “reforming the public service delivery system and bridging the governance deficit” by introducing “self-certification” in place of “affidavits”. That event revealed his enthusiasm and commitment...

-News18.com Another approach to improving citizen engagement could be through community platforms like Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and gram sabhas. The Poshan Abhiyaan intends to do this, but lacks how these platforms reinforce accountability. We are a nation that carries 23.8% of the global burden of malnutrition, with a total of 195.9 million under-nourished people. But it is reassuring that the government is committed to tackle malnutrition on a war footing with...

-The Hindu Business Line Women are burdened with much of the care work, which is generally unregulated and poorly paid. This must change Care work has been the focus of policy debates after the International Labour Organization (ILO) published a report titled ‘Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work’ in 2018. The ILO observed that care work involves a range of skills that are often not formally recognised...

-The Telegraph Can issuing work permits and settling people outside Assam resolve the problem temporarily? In his Outlook article, (retired Union Cabinet secretary and a long-time North-east hand at the Centre) G.K. Pillai offered a temporary arrangement of granting ‘a five-year work permit’ to those not included in the final NRC, basically to maintain status quo, ‘to calm things down and allow a range of policy options to be developed carefully over...

In the financial year 2017-18 when tractor sales touched new heights, it was said by many of the NDA (viz. National Democratic Alliance) government supporters that rural demand has revived on account of adequate monsoon rainfall and higher minimum support prices for crops. Many economists and newspaper columnists also denied the existence of any rural distress. An alternative perspective, however, was also presented by rural economists like Dr. Himanshu who teaches...