-CounterCurrents.org/ ForestRightsAct.com Sunday night, many of us lost a teacher and comrade, and India lost an extraordinary person. Dr. BD Sharma was an IAS officer who began his administrative career as the Collector of Bastar and retired as the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; and then went on, for another 25 years, to be a mass leader of the Bharat Jan Andolan and an influence on countless other platforms...

-Livemint.com Brussels suggested more burdensome, stringent conditions for the permanent solution than what were agreed as part of interim solution in the 2013 Bali summit Geneva: The European Union (EU) has insisted that India must accept a financial cap on market price support programmes if New Delhi wants a permanent solution for the public stockholding programmes for food security at the Nairobi meeting of the World Trade Organization next week, according...

-Press Release from India Resource Center New Delhi: A proposal to tax sugar sweetened beverages like tobacco in India is being welcomed by public health advocates. The proposal to increase sin taxes on aerated drinks is part of the recommendations made by India’s Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in the parliament of India. Taxation to reduce consumption of tobacco has been successful when used...

-The Hindu The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has announced a slew of measures to address the very poor air quality and pollution in the nation’s capital. It is, in principle, a largely welcome move that could push the needle for anti-pollution measures to be adopted by other Indian cities as well. These are possibly the most significant steps taken after the introduction of Compressed Natural Gas-Powered vehicles in the...

-The Hindu The restrictions on private vehicle usage may have got most of the media coverage, but are by no means the only steps the government has announced. Nationally, over 35 per cent of urban households own a motorised two-wheeler and just under 10 per cent own a car, jeep or van. In Delhi, where per capita incomes are among the highest in the country, these proportions are much higher: nearly 40...