-The Indian Express A report on air quality, released during the conference, said Varanasi and Allahabad have not seen a single ‘good’ air quality day in the past one year. Varanasi: Burning agricultural residue doesn’t just bring down air quality, but also Leads to longer spells of dense fog, scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur have concluded. While the concentration of oxidised organic carbon that is produced after burning biomass —...

-Caravan Magazine On 8 November 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an announcement declaring that notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would not be legal tender as a part of his government’s policy to clamp down on counterfeiting and black money. It has been widely reported that this policy would directly impact the real-estate sector, which typically witnesses a significant amount of transactions that are made through cash to avoid...

-The Hindu Parliament is considering an amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act which would only end up helping the corrupt. Its passage would administer a big blow to our already weak anti-corruption mechanism As the nation engages in a doubtful “war on black money”, we run the risk of disengaging ourselves from any action on corruption, the fountainhead of black money. Indeed, we may be moving backwards in the battle against...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has decided to examine the constitutional question of whether a political party or a political Leader can file a PIL before it. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitav Roy decided to examine the maintainability of such PILs after attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi said that two PILs filed by an NGO-turned-political outfit, Swaraj Abhiyan, and a Chhattisgarh Leader cannot be entertained because of the "political...

-TheWire.in Jayalalithaa’s schemes – such as her canteens and baby care kits – may appear to be populist at first glance, but are actually quite entrenched in a welfare tradition. For development economists, Tamil Nadu offers many lessons in social democracy. The state has distinguished itself with visionary schemes – such as noon meals (known as the mid-day meal scheme nationally) and the Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefits Scheme, which provides Rs...