-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement demonetising high denomination notes on November 8, 2016, will do little to address the prime objective of flushing out black money but will adversely affect the economy in the short term, especially the informal sector, which is predominant in India, says M. Govinda Rao, a Member of the Fourteenth Finance Commission and Emeritus Professor, National Institute of Public...

-The Asian Age Replacing income-tax with a banking transaction tax is an unworkable idea. The poor will end up paying a lot more: Subhanil Chowdhury The idea that all taxes in India should be abolished, except import duty, and replaced by a bank transaction tax (BTT) is a deeply flawed one for a number of reasons. First, there are only few countries in the world that do not have income-tax — oil rich...

-The Hindu Business Line The spread of rural electrification has been overestimated, and the adoption of subsidised LPG has not picked up It is little more than a year since the Sustainable Development Goals were agreed to at the UN General Assembly. SDGs are a set of 17 goals that are intended to dramatically improve lives across the world by 2030. A major goal is SDG7 which aims to ensure universal access...

-Deccan Herald Water in India has now become a contentious issue due to rise in demand, climate change and growing mismanagement. With erratic rainfall and recurring droughts in 2012, 2015 and 2016, “water saving” has become a high priority for the governments. As the agriculture sector consumes 80% of freshwater in the country, micro-irrigation –  drip and sprinkler irrigation – has been catapulted as a policy priority because drip and sprinkler irrigation...

-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: There is little chance of any let-up in air pollution in Punjab and the states of Delhi and Haryana post-Diwali as Punjab has expressed its inability to provide farmers money for alternative technology, citing lack of funds. Following a rebuke from National Green Tribunal (NGT) on paddy burning last week, a cash-starved Punjab government has told the Centre that it does not have the money to implement...