-The Indian Express Maharashtra govt rolls out new plan for slum-free Mumbai Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Thursday rolled out a new plan to take Mumbai towards a slum-free status. Under this plan, over 18 lakh slum dwellers residing in slum tenements, that came up between 2000 and 2011, have now been guaranteed a replacement house. However, it will not be for free. All these residents would need to pay for the...

-Hindustan Times Experts and government officials said the change would better capture the actual length of highways constructed in the country. Starting April 1, the government has adopted the so-called lane kilometre concept for measuring its highways instead of the traditional linear length method, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday. Experts and government officials said the change would better capture the actual length of highways constructed in the country. The lane...

-Livemint.com The only way to solve the farmers’ problem is to make entry to other sectors attractive by creating employment opportunities, and to make it easy to exit farming Farmers have a bad romance with the Indian polity. On the one hand, India loves, even worships, these farmers. On the other, Indian policymakers create the most impossible regulatory environment for the agricultural sector, trapping farmers in a low-income, low-productivity occupation. The latest...

-The Hindu What Dhrubajyoti Ghosh closely observed and learnt from Kolkata’s wetland communities If ever there was someone who lived true to his name, it was Dhrubajyoti Ghosh. In Sanskrit, “Dhrubajyoti” refers to the light (jyoti) emitted by the pole star (dhruva tara). The ecologist, who passed away in February, was unwavering in his commitment to the cause he lived for and fearlessly defended: saving the ecologically critical East Kolkata Wetlands from...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The proposed law to crack down on Ponzi schemes will bar real estate Developers that offer fixed returns till possession as well as schemes from jewellers as the government believes that they are “unregulated deposits”. The clampdown on realtors, jewellers and other deposit-seeking entities is part of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, which was cleared by the Cabinet on Wednesday and is expected to...