-The Hindu The tremendous power of the software industry in India may help explain why the disruptive effects of demonetisation are being taken lightly Evidence is mounting of the disruptive effects of the recent move to renew currency notes, known as “demonetisation”. Disruption is actually a mild expression. What is happening is a catastrophe for large sections of the population. Farmers have dumped vegetables by the roadside for want of a remunerative...

-The News Minute Rice Diversity Blocks in Kerala and five other states preserve over 1,000 indigenous varieties of rice that were at risk of being lost. In the Indian subcontinent, the birthplace of paddy, the colours of the crop’s many varieties are as diverse as the land, its people, languages, cultures, costumes, dialects and so on. But most of that variety was lost, when farmers were asked to forgo indigenous varieties...

-Frontline.in Interview with Utsa Patnaik, professor emerita of economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. By T.K. RAJALAKSHMI THE FALLOUT of the decision of the National Democratic Alliance government to demonetise currency of higher denominations has been felt across all sections of people. There are concerns that it will lead to an overall economic slowdown given the acute shortage of currency for industrial and agricultural operations. The impact on agriculture and those dependent on agriculture...

-TheWire.in In the caste and class-unequal region, where a cashless economy is a distant dream, there is some doubtful support for demonetisation, but mostly concrete hostility. Jhansi: Almost a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, the socio-economic fabric of Bundelkhand – one of the poorest regions in central India comprising parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh – is slowly crumbling. The...

-Hindustan Times When launching the International Solar Alliance (ISA) during the United Nations Climate Change summit in 2015 at Paris, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “The sun is the source of all energy, the world must turn to solar, the power of our future.” Last week, a solar power plant in Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu became the world’s largest plant. With a capacity to produce 648 MW of electricity, the plant comprises...