-Business World In the run up to Independence Day, Professor Ashok Gulati wrote a scathing critique of what he has described as “elitist biases in public policy”, that ignore the reality of the masses in rural areas. The reality he describes is that of low rates of growth in agriculture; a sector that majority of Indians still depend on.  He lamented the excessive preponderance of economic policy discourse in the country...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Can state govt make law fixing minimum education qualification as an eligibility criteria for contesting local body election? The Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over state government making law on the issue saying that it would bar a major chunk of the population from contesting elections. A bench of justices J Chelameswar and AM Sapre said that bringing such law would deprive more than 50 percent...

The country has made significant gains in raising the rate of exclusive breastfeeding among infants from 46 to 65 percent between 2005-06 and 2013-14. This has been revealed by the 2015 Global Nutrition Report, which was released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in September. The report has quoted preliminary data on nutrition, which was collected via the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC) in 29 states by the...

-Goverance Now A little stress on water management, cropping methods, research programmes and policies can help coping with droughts Marathwada of Maharashtra comprising eight districts (Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded, Latur, Beed, Osmanabad and Hingoli) is traditionally a drought-prone region. The situation has worsened with rainfall deficiency for three consecutive years. Rainfall deficit for 2014 was 45 percent, this was followed by a deficit of more than 50 percent in many districts...

-Hindustan Times Millions of domestic migrants in India may soon get to vote in elections in their native areas without leaving their places of employment if a government proposal to extend postal ballot facilities to them is successful. Sources said a committee of ministers has been asked to examine the possibility of allowing the choice of postal ballots — both electronically and through proxy voters — to domestic migrant labourers and workers,...