-The Hindu India has close to 1,00,000 cases of drug-resistant TB, most of which remain undiagnosed and untreated. So India’s state of preparedness to fight DR TB remains questionable. In a small, airless room in Dharavi, Owais sat chatting with his wife and two children. Outside, the famous rains of Mumbai beat down relentlessly on the thousands of tiny rooms that dot Dharavi. “I hope it doesn’t flood,” said Owais’s wife as he...

-Livemint.com Despite its positive features, the scheme may not be adequate to tackle pollution in the national capital Delhi’s unique experiment of having odd-even numbered vehicles off the roads on alternate days to combat high levels of air pollution has ignited a debate on the merits and efficacy of the policy. A recent Indian Express article, co-authored by US-based scholars Michael Greenstone, Santosh Harish, Anant Sudarshan and Rohini Pande, argued that the odd-even...

-Livemint.com It’s time to look at the deleterious environmental impact of subsidies so as to attain correct pricing of resources A few days before Delhi’s odd-even rule—a road rationing scheme in which odd- and even-numbered cars were allowed to ply on roads on alternate days—was to be implemented, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia appeared on a television channel to answer questions on the rule. During the show, Sisodia admitted that the...

-Livemint.com Traditionally, public policy has tended to view Indian farmers as what is described in economic history as the “dumb peasant” Last week, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government launched a revamped crop insurance scheme. At first glance, the scheme, christened Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, looks mostly like a reworking of the risk cover already in place; actually, it is much more. Not only does it take a big step in de-risking...

-The Indian Express The jury may still be out on the short-term pollution control mechanism, but for the first fortnight of 2016, a majority of Delhi’s car owners persisted in following the policy. DELHI’S COMMUTERS are seldom known for their decorum. But for 15 days starting January 1, even with the odds stacked against Delhi, the road rationing policy gained traction, slowly but surely. The jury may still be out on...