-Economic and Political Weekly State intervention in India to expand financial inclusion to rural areas has had an interesting history. It has moved away from building state-led institutions to setting policy that pushed financial inclusion through non-State agencies as well. While identity, de-duplication, and authentication were issues that affected the pace of financial inclusion, they were not the most significant problems to be fixed. By allowing the Aadhaar project to set...

-The Hindu   The urban future depends on making cities intelligent, and that applies equally to both new and old parts of the city Smart cities, the flagship project of the Bharatiya Janata Party's urban vision, have received a firm financial allocation in the Union budget. The government has provided Rs.7,060 crore to build 100 smart cities as satellite towns on the outskirts of large cities to accommodate the burgeoning urban population. Foreign...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has punched holes in the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government's claim of having provided basic services in 895 unauthorized colonies in the capital, touted as a major achievement of Dikshit's tenure, for which it spent more than Rs 3,000 crore between 2007 and 2013. Providing these basic services - sewer lines, water connections, roads and drainage - was mandatory before legalizing...

-The Financial Express Unless we get it right on the markets front, including opening up of exports, farmers cannot get their full due One of the key objectives of agricultural price policy in India is to ensure that agriculture remains a remunerative occupation so that farmers are incentivised to adopt modern technologies that help raise productivity and overall production of various crops in the country broadly in line with the emerging demand...

-The Business Standard   Seize the chance to improve the food security Act Now that the National Food Security Act is set to be amended to give states more time to implement the legislation, several of its flaws should be re-examined and the Act suitably amended. The immediate need for an amendment arose because the deadline of a year for its enforcement in all states (that is, by July 5, 2014) was, oddly,...