-The Hindu Planning was a vision, a part of the nationalist movement and its history goes back to a many stranded dream of linking knowledge and power to serve society The old aphorism "old soldiers never die, they just fade away" might also be a story of the fate of most institutions. However, it was not true of the Planning Commission, which was terminated brusquely. This Independence day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi...

-PTI Washington: One third of the world may be at increased risk of drought by 2100 as warmer temperatures wring more moisture from the soil, a new study has warned. Increasing heat is expected to extend dry conditions to far more farmland and cities by the end of the century than changes in rainfall alone, researchers said. Much of concern about future drought under global warming has focused on rainfall projections, but higher...

-Economic and Political Weekly Multiplicity of ration cardholder lists has been found to be a cause for exclusion of the needy from access to subsidised food. A report from Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Aman (amannlu@gmail.com) is a lawyer, currently clerking with a judge at the International Criminal Court, The Hague. Ashutosh Agrawal (ashutosha.56@gmail.com) is studying Economics and Physics at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. The authors would like to thank Jean Drèze...

-The Hindu There has been "a phenomenal increase" in the levels of fine particles in the atmosphere over India, especially those generated by human activity, according to research published recently by a team of Indian scientists. Such particles, known as aerosols, contribute to the growing levels of pollution in the country. In addition, these particles scatter and absorb light. As their levels in the atmosphere increase, they can cut the amount sunlight that...

-Newsclick.in Forty years back a young scholar with a fresh PhD in Physics from Delhi University took a train to Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh. It was to be a turning point in the life of Vinod Raina, for this short train journey was to transform him into a lifetime social activist, campaigner and educationist in the true sense. He left behind the glamour world of theoretical Physics to plunge into the...