-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has decided to examine the constitutional question of whether a political party or a political leader can file a PIL before it. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitav Roy decided to examine the maintainability of such PILs after attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi said that two PILs filed by an NGO-turned-political outfit, Swaraj Abhiyan, and a Chhattisgarh leader cannot be entertained because of the "political...

-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...

-Livemint.com The possible macroeconomic consequences of demonetisation are cause for concern as cash is the lifeblood of the economy It is exactly one month since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision that Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes would cease to be legal tender acceptable for payments in settlement of transactions. There was some provision for exchange or deposit of old notes at banks, but with specified limits on sums and time. The past...

-PTI New Delhi: The Centre’s attention has been sought on the “rising neonatal mortality rate” among tribals in Kerala. C K Janu, leader of NDA ally Janadhipathya Rashtriya Sabha (JRS), today met Union Health and Family Welfare minister Jagat Prakash Nadda in this regard. The tribal leader told reporters that the minister agreed to send a central team in a week’s time to study the current situation of tribal children and their health. “We...

-The Hindu People migrating due to environmental disasters should be accorded ‘refugee’ status in international law An increasing number of people globally are facing displacement due to droughts, famines, rising sea levels and other natural disasters caused by climate change. This class of migrants has been labelled as ‘environmental refugees’ in popular literature. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, an international body reviewing trends of internal displacement, an estimated 24 million...