-The Indian Express A standoff between the ministries of tribal affairs and Environment and forests over the issue of clearances has stalled three key projects, prompting Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, to intervene and question the delay. The projects, which are being tracked by the project monitoring group (PMG) of the cabinet committee on investment, are in three different parts of the country: the 2×500 MW project of...

-The Hindu Index to provide data on level of pollutants in 10 cities across India Amid growing concerns over deteriorating air quality in India's major cities, the government on Monday launched the National Air Quality Index (AQI) that will put out real time data about the level of pollutants in the air and inform people about the possible impacts on health. Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the two-day conference of Environment...

-Newsclick.in The government in India continues to kow-tow to corporate lobbies at the cost of the Environment and public health including occupational health. While always an integral part of ruling class politics in India, as witnessed in the seemingly never-ending saga of the Bhopal Gas Disaster, this has reached new heights under the BJP government led by PM Narendra Modi which is rapidly dismantling even the already weak Environmental regulatory structure....

-The Hindu What makes public policy exciting and potentially inventive is the contested nature of the public sphere. It is anchored in a diversity of perspectives which challenges the dominance of one subject. India is a country full of paradoxes. The elite in the country are forward-looking; they emphasise the need for reskilling but they conduct all this with backward-looking institutions. An acute observer once said: "we want to be [a] knowledge...

-The Hindu Business Line Overuse of groundwater, fertiliser and energy threatens the future of agriculture. A coherent policy response is called for India's agricultural sector is far more important to the country than its falling share in the GDP suggests. About two-thirds of India's population depends on agriculture for livelihood. Bucking global trends, the agricultural population in India rose by 50 per cent between 1980 and 2011. And in spite of sustained...