-News18.com In an interview with News18’s Rupashree Nanda, Dreze, who was a member of Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council and an architect of the National Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), says that there have been no major initiatives in the social field in the last four years, with the partial exception of Swachh Bharat. Government data reveal that the Indian economy is growing at a robust rate but noted economist Jean Dreze believes...

-India Water Portal The editor of a new book that lays out alternative futures for India discusses India, democracy and development with a noted journalist. Alternative Futures: India Unshackled is a new book that dares to imagine what India could be. Published by Authors Upfront, 35 author-activists, researchers and thinkers have drawn upon their experiences to write on alternative political, ecological, economic and sociocultural scenarios that will benefit India in its...

-The Telegraph Where Indian children stumble in Mathematics New Delhi: A national survey has found Class VIII pupils in Bengal performing below the national average in mathematics, and children across the country floundering in geometry, particularly in calculating the volumes of cubes and cylinders. The children, however, tended to do better with the algebra questions asked in the National Achievement Survey, conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training. Some 22 lakh...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) images of the past ten days show large parts of India are dotted with fires, stretching across Uttar Pradesh (UP), Madhya Pradesh (MP), Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and even some southern states. In sweltering summer, these fires are intensifying heat and causing black carbon (a component of soot with high global warming effect) pollution. Some of these dots may be forest fires...

-The Indian Express The pharmacies are crowded, and customers usually accept the brand that those manning the counters hand out to them. At all the shops, queries about other brands are met with: “Only this one is available with us”. Chandigarh: At the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), a patient has the choice to get fleeced or save herself from open wallet surgery. But it all depends on the...