-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the Union government to enforce improved emissions standards for vehicles across India after a non-government organisation carried an air pollution monitoring instrument inside the courtroom and found pollution levels exceeding safe limits. During the hearing of an ongoing PIL on air pollution this afternoon, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed that the level of particulate matter (PM) smaller...

-The Indian Express Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly promised India "maximum governance". But to get there, the high costs and ineffectiveness of frontline service providers need to be addressed. Take elementary school teachers, for instance. "Complete rest in comfortable conditions" is the description a rather candid elementary education cluster resource centre coordinator (CRCC) in Bihar gave his own job. And it's not just him, it is also how the CRCC describes...

-Economic and Political Weekly   This paper, based on NSS employment and unemployment data for various rounds since 1999-2000, highlights the trends and patterns of inclusion and exclusion in female employment across social groups. It provides evidence of increasing social inequalities in female employment, alongside worsening gender-based segregations. It also shows how specific attention to social and cultural variables could overturn standard assumptions regarding women's employment, which indeed has relevance for more...

-Economic and Political Weekly   This paper proposes an approach to periodically measure the extent of progress towards universal health coverage using a set of indicators that captures the essence of the factors to be considered in moving towards universalisation. It presents the rationale for the approach and demonstrates its use, based on a primary household survey carried out at the district level. Discussing the strengths and limitations of the approach, it...

-Economic and Political Weekly The National Democratic Alliance government has constituted the IPR Think Tank which, among other things, is to draft the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy. India may not have a policy per se but it has a strong legislation on IPRs, a functioning patents office and mechanisms to grant patents as well as protect consumer interests. The Think Tank has other issues it needs to address, but is...