-Business Standard TSR Subramanian committee for altering procedures under key laws to speed up decisions on applications from or for industries The T S R Subramanian committee has recommended a massive revamp of various forest laws, to expedite the processing of industrial applications. These range from the way forests are defined to cutting the procedures in attaining forest clearance for industrial projects. At present, three laws - Indian Forests Act (IFA) of 1927, Forest...

-Economic and Political Weekly   The runaway growth in states of subsidised solar pumps, which provide quality energy at near-zero marginal cost, can pose a bigger threat of groundwater over-exploitation than free power has done so far. The best way to meet this threat is by paying farmers to "grow" solar power as a remunerative cash crop. Doing so can reduce pressure on aquifers, cut the subsidy burden on electricity companies, reduce...

-The Hindu They also demand continuation of old age pension DINDIGUL (Tamil Nadu): The All India Farmers' Association has strongly condemned the Central government's move to scale down allocation of grant for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the inordinate delay in settling old age pension (OAP) to beneficiaries. It has planned to campaign in all villages against the Centre from December 2 to 5 and lay a siege...

-Press Release from Centre for Budget Analysis (CBGA) and Jan Awaaz New Delhi, 29 November 2014: There have been a number of media reports recently around possible cuts in Union Budget allocations for the current fiscal 2014-15 in case of social sector programmes, i.e. reductions in allocations in the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2014-15 as compared to the Budget Estimates (BE) that were made in July this year. This issue deserves...

-The Hindu The deaths of Chaiti Bai and other women after a botched tubectomy in Chhattisgarh are an opportunity to reflect on the problems India faces in the pursuit of modernity and global status, especially in health and education A sudden death always has great pedagogical value. The death of Chaiti Bai, a Baiga tribal woman, following a botched tubectomy at a mass sterilisation camp in Chhattisgarh recently, can improve our perspective...