-Firstpost.com Development economist Jean Dreze has been vociferous critic of the Narendra Modi government's demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes a year back. He had famously warned that "demonetisation in a booming economy is like shooting at the tyres of a racing car". A year on, it seems his caution has come true. In the first quarter of the current financial year, the GDP growth slowed to a three-year...

-The Economic Times More than 23 lakh customers have received cooking gas subsidy of Rs 47 crore in their respective Airtel Bank accounts they don’t seem to have opened, prompting the government to intervene even as the top mobile operator denied any wrongdoing. Consumers receive cooking gas subsidy in their bank accounts linked to their unique biometric identity, or Aadhaar. But after several consumers lately complained about not receiving subsidy, it emerged...

-The New Indian Express NEW DELHI: Amid controversial reports of hunger deaths in Jharkhand due to PDS beneficiaries being turned away, economist Jean Dreze says that even official records show that a significant proportion of people are being deprived of food rations every month. In an interview with New Sunday Express, the prime mover behind the NREGA welfare scheme said “this does not mean that Aadhaar is solely responsible for the failures...

-ThePrint.in The central government’s policy of not allowing Punjab to diversify is causing damage to the health of people in faraway Delhi. Crop stubble burning is a nuisance for both humans and the ecosystem as a whole. And the farmer needs a systematic support system to tide over the problem. The support can come in many ways: central government policy intervention being the most important. Through its current policy, the central government is...

-The Hindu Chennai needs integrated flood management, especially the revival of lakes and water tanks Chennai’s date with a strong northeast monsoon ought to be a cause for all-round relief since the water fortunes of more than eight million residents of the metropolitan region depend on this weather system. Yet, the torrential rains in the meteorological sub-division, exceeding the normal by 93% in the period of four days from November 1, left...