-The Hindu   The NDA's first budget has thrown a few sops in the direction of the environment and the millions dependent on it. But much like its predecessors, in painting the big picture it remains embarrassingly devoid of innovative ideas on how to move India towards ecological sustainability and justice "While 2015 will be a landmark year for sustainable development and climate change policy, 2014 is the last chance for all stakeholders...

-Outlook India To the social subsidy whiners, please check corporate write-offs column The TV anchor asked eagerly of Arun Jaitley whether he would take hard decisions or, in the case of a bad drought, revert to loan waivers and (obviously wasteful) subsidies. The finance minister replied that it depended on the situation as it unfolded but he hoped he wouldn't have to return to such steps. "We hope so too," said...

-Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability  New Delhi: The first budget of the new government offers few changes in terms of policy priorities from the interim budget for 2014-15 presented earlier this year, but it does reinforce some of the pro-market inclinations that had defined the last three budgets of the UPA-II government. The total size of the Union Budget in 2014-15 was projected in the interim budget to be...

-Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability Please click here to access the budget analysis report entitled Has the Tide Turned?: Response to Union Budget 2014-15, which was done by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability in July, 2014. ...

-Deccan Herald The National Crime Records Bureau's data for 2013 is out, and farm suicides are pegged at 11,772 -- not very different from the earlier years.Many activists point out how these figures are in fact under-reported. In a country where the cultivators' numbers are plummeting drastically as the Census 2011 data shows, this unabated trend of farm suicides is something that any government should take note of. The central aspect to this...