-TheThirdPole.net A response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative has to contend with a history of authoritarian, carbon-heavy development that both China and its opponents have pursued In a phone call to the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 26 March, US President Joe Biden said that “democratic countries should have an infrastructure plan to rival China’s Belt and Road initiative”. This statement has been the focus of intense scrutiny in Central...

-ThePrint.in In various state govts, the office of district magistrate has been reduced to a glorified post office that receives instructions from various govt departments. Not so long ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ridiculed India’s civil servants in Parliament when he questioned whether the government should be run by ‘babus’, a euphemism for bureaucrats. It is Ironic to see the PM now, addressing the very same ‘babus’, the district magistrates of...

-Hindustan Times The Centre and states are at war, but India urgently needs a coordinated response. It’s not too late. But soon it will be In an influential paper published over a decade ago, the economist Lant Pritchett described India as a “flailing State” — in which the head, that is the elite institutions at the national level (and, in some cases, state level) remained sound and functional but was no longer...

The National Food Security Act 2013 guarantees maternity benefit to the tune of Rs. 6,000/- per child by the Central Government for pregnant women and lactating mothers, barring those who are already availing such benefits while being in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or under other laws. The NFSA 2013 also legally guarantees free meals for every pregnant woman and lactating mother...

-The Indian Express Maharashtra government’s move to regulate fees is laudable. But it must also address larger issues of transparency, accountability and inequality related to private schools In February, Maharashtra Minister of State for Education Bacchu Kadu directed the state education department to create a “plan” to take action against private schools allegedly charging excessive fees and repeatedly violating state regulations on school education. Kadu has been at the forefront of hearing...