-ThePrint.in Panchayats or local elected governments are supposed to lead socio-economic development but they have no funds to spend as per needs. The growing political importance of ‘good governance’ in politics today brings the focus back on India’s chronic implementation failure problem. It pervades all development sectors like education, health care, law enforcement and infrastructure, but our understanding of what causes these failures is imperfect.  In fact, ‘implementation failure’ is embedded in the...

-TheWire.in Commentators see the National Education Policy 2020's emphasis on choice, modularity and autonomy as disquieting because they see it as pushing the education system into a neoliberal governance mode. In a perspicacious commentary on the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP), social scientist Satish Deshpande noted that multiple exit options “will certainly help in renaming drop-outs as certificate or diploma-holders. But they cannot ensure that these credentials will bring significant benefits for...

-TheWire.in * As of last year, financial institutions from India were the third-largest investors out of six countries financing 80% of the world’s coal investments. * A 2021 report found that ICICI, the State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Trust Group and HDFC were among the fourth-biggest group of financiers of coal-based projects worldwide. * Indian commercial banks’ large-scale investment in Big Infra has exposed the Indian people’s savings and personal investments to...

-ThePrint.in Experts say governance issues and gaps in understanding the root of the problem thwart eradication efforts. Minor improvement in indicators, but India caught in malnutrition cycle. New Delhi: On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the Indian government’s nutritional programmes and how they have helped in reducing the problem of malnutrition. Yet, 47 years after the government instituted the Integrated Child Development Services  (ICDS) — one of India’s oldest flagships...

-Down to Earth Zero funds to Bengal, Lakshadweep this year, Centre admits in Parliament; activists ask to use pre-existing mechanisms to handle graft Millions of workers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have not received wages for months. Workers from West Bengal are especially affected, with 13.2 million people unpaid for seven months.  Bengal is the only state that received no funds under the 100-day work scheme in...