-The Hindu We need to rethink social safety nets in India’s growing economy so that they can also focus on the accidents of life rather than solely on the accidents of birth. Sometimes the grand narratives of the Left and the Right do not seem to have any relationship with the lived experiences of ordinary Indians. For the past two decades, the Left has tried to expand social welfare programmes for the...
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Down memory lane: Forest Rights Act yet to achieve major milestones -G Seetharaman
-The Economic Times The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, or the Forest Rights Act (FRA), is among India's most important legislation since 2005, along with the Right to Information Act and the Right to Education Act. FRA, which was passed in Parliament in December 2006 and which became operational in January 2008, recognises the rights of forest dwellers, including Scheduled Tribes and others,...
More »A flawed approach to managing water -Nilanjan Ghosh
-The Hindu Business Line The draft laws do not take a holistic view of surface and groundwater management. Nor are institutional issues spelt out The draft National Water FRAmework Bill 2016 was placed in the public domain for comments in end-May by the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation. Around the same time, the ministry also placed the Model Bill for the Conservation, Protection, Regulation and Management of Groundwater 2016...
More »India relies mainly on buses for transportation, but they are being marginalised -T Ramachandran
-The Hindu Though most in both urban and rural areas primarily rely on buses for travel, other kinds of vehicles, like two-wheelers and cars, dominate. Buses (and trams) account for the bulk of the spending on travel in India, a sample survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) has revealed; yet buses constitute only a small FRAction of the total number of vehicles on the roads. Though most people in...
More »How Gram Panchayat Development Plan is changing the villages of India -Nidhi Sharma
-The Economic Times For Latak in Assam's Dhemaji district, floods are a living reality. But this remote village of about 300 houses has found a novel cost-effective way to connect flood-affected areas — a bridge made out of neatly stacked bamboo. It may not sound like a big success story but, for the village panchayat, it is a cause for much celebration. The panchayat planned the project after deliberations with villagers...
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