-Live Mint The solutions to India’s growth problems require a more holistic approach Whether rightly or wrongly, there is a growing critique of India’s current development strategy: of a top-down, trickle-down theory that rides on an extraordinary growth momentum. They are disparate, but when the dots are connected they do present a coherent reminder that this strategy may not be the best and, worse, it is not sustainable. To a large extent this...

-Pratirodh.com The streets of the obscure town of Pandharkawda in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra have come to life. Hundreds of villagers crowd them for the weekly haat to buy their supplies of vegetables, spices, pulses and tobacco, while farmers throng shops selling seeds, pesticides, manure and farm commodities. Dressed in bright cotton sarees, women haggle with vendors. Even doctors, especially dentists, are having a busy day with long queues of patients...

-The Hindustan Times Indians love slogans. So, since Independence, successive governments have offered catch lines to their electorates. Some slogans were inopportune because they were of dubious accuracy. Jawaharlal Nehru’s 1950s ‘Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai’ — Indians and Chinese are brothers — (even Nehru did not believe this), led to a battlefield defeat. The Congress’ 1975 Emergency-era ‘Indira is India and India is Indira’ and the BJP’s 2004 ‘India Shining’ were electoral disasters. Some...

-The Economic Times The parliamentary standing committee on food is giving a final shape to the UPA-II government's ambitious Food Security Bill. It is likely to submit its report during this session which is likely to end on December 21. Committee chairman Vilas Muttemwar summoned senior food ministry officials on Monday to study the availability of grains and the ministry's readiness to roll out the project. The government, however, is likely to present...

-The Hindu The Leveson report on the British press should jolt the Indian media into acting against ills such as paid news, and focus on being an agent of progressive social change After an inquiry lasting a year, Lord Justice Leveson has delivered a damning verdict on the decades of “outrageous” behaviour by the media. If anything, this verdict would apply in even greater force to a large section (not all) of...