-Down to Earth The protests are in opposition to the vague position of the Rules on forest-dwelling communities in the compensatory afforestation process The draft Compensatory Afforestation Fund Rules, 2018, notified by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) on February 16, have sparked protests by tribal organisations in Odisha. The protests are due to the fact that the Rules are vague on the role of communities in...

-Hindustan Times With the rising costs of campaigns, parties have increasing incentives to field richer candidates with criminal cases against them — precisely those who do a worse job of representing and working for the welfare of their constituents. Are Members of Parliament (MPs) genuinely interested in giving back to the voters who elected them? Since 1993, MPs have been allotted money under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)...

-Livemint.com Universal basic income (UBI) cannot come at the cost of existing welfare schemes and exclusive reliance on Aadhaar-linked cash transfers can prove to be short-sighted, says Carnegie India report New Delhi: A universal basic income (UBI) for Indian citizens cannot come at the cost of withdrawing existing welfare schemes and an exclusive reliance on Aadhaar-linked welfare payments for cash transfers can prove to be short-sighted, says new research. The central design features...

-The Indian Express The focus in the Union Budget on tertiary healthcare at the cost of primary and secondary healthcare is flawed. A publicly-financed health insurance scheme is no substitute If the past three Union budgets were any indication, this budget’s approach to the health sector should not have surprised anyone. The prescription in the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 to increase the government’s (Centre and the states together) health expenditure from the...

-The Hindu Where the citizen-government gap is bridged by using the RTI Act for administrative reforms April 18, 2014 is a day the shepherds around Budgam town near Srinagar will not forget. This was the day when Tosa Maidan — a vast pasture that shepherds from seven districts traditionally grazed their livestock in — was reclaimed from the Indian Army. Leased out to the Army in 1964, Tosa Maidan or ‘the king of...