-The Hindu India is the only large country that is experiencing an economic divergence among its States. “Real freedom lies in economic freedom,” said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, in her Independence Day speech this year. The subtle reference here was to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which her party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, did not endorse, the only political party to do so in Parliament, on...

Access to land and its resources is important since it determines the extent of poverty and deprivation one faces. Historically tribal populations and other traditional forest dwellers did not enjoy any legal entitlement such as ownership rights or user rights of the forest lands where they had been living since ages, both communally and individually. The Forest Rights Act (FRA) is, thus, seen as a progressive legislation that attempted to...

-The Hindu New Delhi: Sixty-four per cent consumers still don’t know how to get the subsidised LED bulbs being made available by the government of India, a survey conducted by citizen engagement platform LocalCircles revealed. The poll was carried across 56 cities and 20 States. The government had announced an LED distribution scheme under which electricity board customers are eligible to buy LED bulbs at a subsidised rate. This scheme was launched...

-The Indian Express Farmers can install solar panels on their fields that can generate income in addition to regular crop agriculture. Of its several new initiatives, the Narendra Modi government has set out at least two very ambitious targets, which are also quantifiable. One is achieving 100 giga-watts (GW) of solar power generation capacity by the year 2022. The other is doubling farmers’ income — presumably in real terms — also by 2022,...

-Newslaundry.com A new study shows how both state and central governments flouted SC orders in drought hit states Thirty three crore people were affected in 10 states by the drought in 2015-16. However, despite Supreme Court orders to provide subsidised food grain and continue mid day meal scheme during summer holidays, the centre and the state governments failed to do so. The court’s order had come on May 13, during the Swaraj...