-DNA Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Mission has not only failed at his constituency, Varanasi but also in the nation's capital, Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign that started a year back hasn't achieved desired goals yet.  In a recent assessment on cleanliness carried out by Union Urban Development Ministry, Modi's own constituency, Varanasi ranked 418 on a list of 476 cities.  Meanwhile, the capital is also on the bottom of the list....

-The Hindu India’s fundamental belief in democracy is often taken as a given, but it is instructive to understand the basis and strength of this belief. A new national Survey by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies shows that in 2013, under half the country unequivocally preferred democracy as the best form of government in all cases; the outcome was the same when a similar Survey was conducted in...

-Livemint.com Effective policy changes at the state-level are needed as this is where the problem and its solutions lie—and not in a National Agricultural Market There have been many attempts at alleviating the pain of the farmer in India, be it natural calamities or market risks, but nothing seems to work, and the problems of farmer distress and indebtedness continue to grow. For some time now, there has been a focus...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Overall, the south has done best, with 39 among the top 100, followed by 27 from the east, 15 from the west, 12 from the north and 7 from the Northeast. Of the 27 state capitals Surveyed, 15 have made it to the top 100 while five have ranked below 300. Bangalore leads the list of capitals, while Patna comes last at 429. Among the other major eastern...

-Livemint.com The problem with the SECC is the absence of cross-tabulations showing the intersections between the seven deprivation sets The original intent of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), whose findings for rural India were made public in June, was to collect information on economic and caste identifiers for access to subsidized food under the National Food Security Act of 2013, and to define a priority set with higher access and...