-The Financial Express A mechanism is needed to compensate farmers for not exercising their right to sell productive land but continue to grow foodgrains. India finds itself in a piquant situation. While its population, and with it the number of poor, is growing, its cultivable land is not only shrinking, more worryingly, the economic returns of the agricultural use are diminishing vis-a-vis non-agricultural use. The situation may not be alarming right now,...

-The Hindustan Times The finance ministry will soon initiate a survey to assess the efficacy of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and analyse how many accounts have been opened. The report will be sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. About 40 million accounts have been opened under the scheme so far. "We would soon initiate a survey to understand how many unbanked households have been covered region-wise," a senior finance ministry...

-The Hindu Expected to encourage best performers and inspire others Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing the ambitious ‘Clean India' mission, the Union Tourism Ministry on Friday said it was working on a "cleanliness index'' for Cities in the country to encourage the best performers and, in turn, inspire others to spruce up. "We are preparing a cleanliness index. The methodology has been drafted and index calculated for six...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Through a two-way process comprising text analysis of the policy framework of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme and analysis of empirical data collected through interaction with policy implementers, teachers, students, experts, etc, this article puts forth the argument that urban education system has failed partly because of the inability of the implementers to plan, manage and facilitate the programme. Monika Banerjee (banerjie77@gmail.com) is with the Zakir Husain Centre...

-Al Jazeera More than 100 workers have died of starvation since West Bengal's tea estates have begun shutting down. Jalpaiguri/Alipurduar, India - The picturesque tea gardens carpeting West Bengal's Dooars region are gradually turning into graveyards, as dozens of workers have fallen victim to starvation in recent months. More than 100 tea-garden workers have died of starvation in the past year amid site closures, activists say - but rather than taking action, the...