-The Hindu In his book on Bihar, M.R. Sharan provides a closely observed, scholarly, and empathetic account of the struggle to make constitutional promises a reality in rural India  M.R. Sharan’s splendid book brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. The scene is a public meeting at “Narega Chowk” in Ratnauli village, Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. Activists of Bihar Manrega Watch (BMW) are helping resolve grievances. An old woman...

-TheWire.in * India will lose 101 billion work-hours a year to the effects of global warming, according to a new study. * There is more scientific evidence to show how extreme weather, including rainfall, impacts economies worldwide. * Another study found economic growth decreases when the number of wet days and the number of days with extreme rainfall increase. Kochi: As the world becomes warmer, India will lose more than 101 billion hours of...

-The Telegraph With a per capita income at a whopping $2554, poverty is down; exports are up and GDP is fueled by both agriculture and manufacturing; but the downside is a growing nexus between politics and business There is justifiable pride all around at Bangladesh’s remarkable performance in both the economic and social development dimensions. “Pakistan and India don’t matter. We have done better than both!” The figures speak for themselves. The renowned...

-The Tribune In India, there is a concerted campaign to discredit the arhtiya, building the case for bringing in agri-business companies. There is certainly a need to regulate the middlemen, but the American experience shows how the consolidation of the meat industry, leading to market concentration in the hands of a few companies, is making it difficult for livestock farmers to survive. WHILE Indian policy makers and economists haven’t drawn any lessons...

-TheWire.in Today, fuel prices are at an all-time high. Once the genie of inflation is out of the bottle, as it does once in a decade or so, no amount of narrative spinning by the Modi government will work. This year is likely to herald the return of global inflation in ways not seen in the past 20 years. We have witnessed inflation remaining rather subdued from the beginning of this century....