-Hindustan Times Nawanshahr: “The budget is far removed from reality.” That is how young Meet Pal Singh, an MBA who has set up a polyhouse in Mahalon village of Nawanshahr, dismisses the budget. The tall light-eyed youth, who is feted as a progressive farmer in the area, says the Modi government should first focus on implementing the MS Swaminathan report for farmers before coming up with a new set of proposals. Dr...

-Business Today If you want to really get smart with water, the first thing you should realise is that in most parts of India, water is abundantly available. But you also need to recall what a man named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had once said: "There is enough in this world for everyone's need, but not for anyone's greed". Today, what Gandhiji advised is being termed a "paradigm shift" in water management. The...

-Economic and Political Weekly Mihir Shah (mihirbhai25@gmail.com) was Chair, Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission and Central Ground Water Board set up by the Ministry of Water Resources (September 2015 to July 2016). The chair summarises background, main features, and addresses some of the issues raised by the articles in this issue. As Member, Planning Commissionfrom 2009 to 2014, I was able to play a small part in kickstarting fundamental reforms...

-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 The spectacle of ‘fixing’ India’s illegal economy is not only harming common citizens but also turning small investors away from financial markets. Depending on who is talking, the demonetisation of higher value currency notes by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has either been described by commentators as a ‘bold move’, ‘landmark policy’, ‘game-changer’ and even a ‘political masterstroke’ or has been labelled the single most high-risk political gamble undertaken since the...