-The Economic Times A new book by Bibek Debroy on Gujarat looks at how this much-talked about state has performed in economic terms. The author argues history, luck and administrative clarity have been the determining factors. There has been a discernible pickup in Gujarat's growth performance since the 10th Plan (2002-07), the five-year Plans being natural periods for breaking up the timeline. It's tempting to argue that there is nothing exceptional in...

-Economic and Political weekly Drawing on the research on basic education in West Bengal, this essay argues the case for a much criticised public education system, which needs to be reconsidered as regards its potential as a provider of quality education, even while addressing its many failings. The essay follows an approach, both critical and constructive, that underlines the collective onus of the public in realising the value of the public...

-The Telegraph Patna: Farmers in Bihar have set their sights on foreign funds for a change in their fortune though economists have cast a doubt on it. Ask Nitish Kumar, a farmer of Darveshpura village in Nalanda district, who hogged the limelight a couple of months ago with record production of potatoes. Nitish had no one by his side when he was forced to go for distress sale of the same potato, which...

-Deccan Herald Farmers in Haryana villages have maintained insect equilibrium by pitting beneficial insects against the harmful. In the great Indian epic, Mahabharata, there is a telling story of the valiant Abhimanyu who died fighting while trying to pierce through a Chakravyuah (seven rings). Mahabharata tells us that Abhimanyu had learnt the art of smashing through the seven layers of the human chain of the Chakravyuah. In lot many ways, I find the...

-PTI Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council today said poor monsoon is likely to pull down farm sector growth rate to 0.5 per cent in the current financial year, a projection that is even lower than in 2009-10 when monsoon was the worst in 28 years. The growth in the agriculture sector was one per cent in 2009-10 when production had fallen by 16 million tonnes due to poor monsoon. As many as...