-The Telegraph New Delhi: The demonetisation-hit economy, which is expected to limp back to normalcy by the middle of this calendar year, may report a GDP growth rate of around 7 per cent for 2016-17, according to North Block economists. Of course, like all cautious economists, North Block's tribe of coffee swigging GDP forecasters and policy sherpas will add a ceteris PARIbus (all other things being equal), the Latin term that the followers...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre today told the Supreme Court the amended version of the Whistle Blowers Act, 2011,would be placed before the Rajya Sabha in the budget session starting January 31, with the Lok Sabha having already passed it. Solicitor-general Ranjit Kumar gave this undertaking to a bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud during the hearing of a PIL by an NGO, PARIvartana. The hearing witnessed...

-Livemint.com Economist Esther Duflo on demonetisation impact, role of randomized control trials in policymaking, low priority assigned to health and education in India New Delhi: India’s demonetisation of high-value currency notes is a dramatic example of a policy announcement made without any serious thought given to implementation, said Esther Duflo, one of the leading development economists of the world and a professor at the department of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of...

-The Hindu Biodiversity integration into developmental plans is crucial for sustainable development In a ‘Mann Ki Baat’ broadcast recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his environmental concerns clear when he asked people to use Ganesha and Durga idols made of clay instead of plaster of PARIs. His appeal is bound to stimulate our environmental consciousness and encourage the preservation of precious natural resources. We need to build on this appeal and follow...

-Hindustan Times When launching the International Solar Alliance (ISA) during the United Nations Climate Change summit in 2015 at PARIs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “The sun is the source of all energy, the world must turn to solar, the power of our future.” Last week, a solar power plant in Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu became the world’s largest plant. With a capacity to produce 648 MW of electricity, the plant comprises...