-Livemint.com Jean Drèze’s new book of essays defends action-oriented research, especially in the field of development economics Designing government policy to eradicate corruption is not easy. As the “demonetization” exercise demonstrated, such earnest endeavours can have big and unintended consequences and they often might not proceed according to plan. Although not concerning itself with demonetization, a new book by economist Jean Drèze delves into the challenges of making public policy for India....

-Scroll.in The Insolvency and Banking Code was brought in as a law in May 2016 to resolve cases of unpaid debts by companies. It allows creditors to initiate insolvency proceedings against defaulting companies so as to recover their money. The code was thought necessary because existing systems of dealing with insolvent companies had failed to deliver, with cases dragging on for years without result. The code sets up an Insolvency and Bankruptcy...

-Scroll.in A year after its launch, the new process that handles the recovery of crores of rupees of unpaid corporate debt is shrouded in opaqueness. India’s new insolvency and bankruptcy regime has been functioning for a year without any disclosure norms or mandatory transparency regulations. In the first year of its application, the regime is already dealing with more than 450 cases that add up to thousands of crores of rupees...

-The Financial Express How about planting bamboo extensively along the banks of the Yamuna to sequester the carbon from Delhi’s vehicle emissions? According to the World Bank, India’s per person emission of carbon dioxide was 1,730 kg a year in 2014. Another website says this has risen to 1,900 kg in 2016. Bharathi Namby, a scientist, says it will take just five bamboo plants a year to make an Indian carbon-neutral,...

-The Indian Express Union government must address structural issues in agricultural policy, allow states greater autonomy. Farmers from across the country are out on Delhi’s streets agitating just as the deliberations for the 2018 budget are beginning and it’s time to seek solutions to the structural issues that plague the system. The “one-size-fits-all” policy created for the farm sector is self-destructive in design and programmes meant to double farmer incomes are collapsing. The...