-CivilSocietyOnline.com Vikas Gando Thayo Chhe" which means ‘development has gone mad’ is a super hit song these days in Gujarat. In the just concluded garba festival, this song was hugely popular throughout Gujarat. The song became popular even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated his birthday on 7 September by declaring completion of an incomplete Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), heaping totally unnecessary, unjustified and unjust displacement on 40,000 families in the...

-The Indian Express In zones of prosperity, agriculture faces crisis, jobs are few, social aspirations don’t match economic realities After Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, farmers from Rajasthan came out on the streets demanding loan waiver and implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report. Protesting against government policies and demanding their share in the country’s development, which they argue have been denied to them, the farmers have shown unity across caste and class lines....

-Hindustan Times Productivity is also expected to drop further to about 35% owing to intermittent rains. Mumbai: Prolonged dry spells and deviation in rainfall for about six weeks in July and August has led to a drop in agricultural production and productivity when compared to the state’s five-year average and the bumper crop yielded last year. The drop, which ranges between 15% and 28%, in the production of pulses, cereals and oilseeds...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Bihar is among the states with the poorest progress towards open-defecation-free (ODF) targets with some districts requiring 500 toilets every day to meet 2019 goals, according to a report from the non-government Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released today. The report said Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand, accounting for 60 per cent of open defecation, would need to accelerate efforts for India to reach its ODF...

-Firstpost.com The Narendra Modi government seems to have inherited Amitabh Bachchan's famous coin from Sholay. For, whichever way it falls, the government claims it has won. Its latest spin on demonetisation is yet another example of the government's 'heads we win, tails we win' arrogance. But, economy is not cinema. So, don't believe for a moment that the government was expecting almost all of the demonetised currency to return to the Reserve...