-The Hindu Business Line Registration committee favours review of each pesticide in 10-year intervals New Delhi: The Anupam Verma Committee, set up to review the continued use of 66 pesticides that have been barred/restricted for use in farming in other countries, has recommended a ban on 13 ‘extremely hazardous’ pesticides, phasing out of six ‘moderately hazardous’ ones by 2020, and review of 27 pesticides in 2018. The six pesticides suggested for phasing out...

-The Hindu Business Line The government must open up conventional and unconventional avenues for women to find their way into the workforce Officials in the finance ministry are busy with budgetary consultations. At the outset, it needs to be recognised that the Union Budget is more than a mere accounting exercise as it lays out the vision of the government and provides a strategy to implement it during the course of that year. In...

-The Indian Express Jaitley says UPA govt left scheme in ‘pitiable’ state, Manmohan says Modi govt killed its ‘soul and spirit’ The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) completed 10 years on Tuesday, sparking a political slugfest as both the Congress and the BJP rushed to take credit for its “success”. While Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Narendra Modi government had given the scheme, allegedly in a “pitiable” state...

-The Hindu Business Line Going by the experience worldwide, it is unlikely to generate jobs in the formal sector Changes in land and labour laws are the two most important components of the second generation of economic reforms. Since early 1990, a slew of economic reforms have been initiated in almost all sectors. However, the governments in power from 1990 through 2014 did not introduce radical changes in the prevailing land and...

-The Indian Express Haryana panchayat poll outcome does not reflect the state’s social composition The panchayat elections in Haryana have yielded results drastically different from previous elections. This is because a large number of persons were barred from contesting these elections due to educational and other disqualifications introduced through amendments by the Haryana assembly in September last year. In the widely criticised Rajbala and others vs State of Haryana judgment, the Supreme...