-Hindustan Times This year is turning out to be a milestone year for the world’s future: In September, 192 countries signed the Sustainable Development Goals and on November 30, delegates from 195 countries will converge in Paris for 12 days to hammer out a new global climate accord. There are several cross-cutting issues between the two mega meets, climate change and agriculture being the two big ones. It is a no-brainer why...

-Down to Earth The rate at which informal housing is being destroyed probably far exceeds the rate at which formal housing is being constructed Troubled by the degradation of environment on and around railway tracks, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently directed Delhi government to relocate all illegal settlements along tracks in Delhi. The tribunal reasoned that the residents of these settlements practise open defecation and litter on the tracks. Housing of the...

-Economic and Political Weekly India needs to find an optimal patenting regime that will safeguard incentives for innovation while simultaneously ensuring that medicines are available at reasonable prices. Viswanath Pingali (viswanath@iimahd.ernet.in) is at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Chirantan Chatterjee (chirantan@gmail.com) is at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. We gratefully acknowledge several discussions with Kensuke Kubo. Please click here to access the article. ...

-DNA The Modi government’s soil-testing scheme doesn’t address the causes of agrarian distress In February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an ambitious Rs568 crore Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme. The objective of the three-year scheme is to issue soil health cards to 14 crore farmers spread across India. The cards will be given out after determining the quality of soil, identifying its macro- and micronutrients as well as its...

-Hindustan Times Mumbai: Maharashtra government is finally waking up to the effects of climate change. Reeling under crippling water scarcity, it has decided to set up Maharahstra’s first climate change study centre. The idea of a centre was prompted by the successive weather eccentricities that the state has suffered in consecutive years --- drought, excess rainfall, hailstorms and drought again. The centre will set up in Aurangabad, the heart of the state’s driest and...