-The Hindu Patience and perseverance are required to get information under the RTI When journalists seek information under the Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005, there are many surprises in store: the information is often denied or responses to queries are partial because the “information is not available”, or “doesn’t pertain” to the department contacted, or is stated to be under the category of exemptions (any information which could affect the sovereignty...

-The New Indian Express What changed the terms over the last few years from when India was the toast for global business and Bangladesh was an also ran? NEW DELHI: India has not only lost its tag as the fastest growing economy, it is even lagging behind its former 'poor cousin’ Bangladesh, which grew by 8.1 per cent last financial year as against India’s 6.8 per cent. Similarly, while India’s growth forecast...

-The Indian Express 'Developing Asia' refers to a group of 45 countries that are members of the ADB The economic outlook update released by the Asian Development Bank last week highlighted that the number of urban inhabitants in ‘Developing Asia’ has increased “almost five-fold since 1970”. The report, tracking World Urbanisation Prospects data, also states that the two-thirds of the nearly 1.5 billion additional city dwellers in the region belonged from...

-The Hindu Business Line Noted Gandhian economist Dr Sudarshan Iyengar surveys the distressed agricultural landscape, pinpoints its weaknesses, and prescribes solutions with their roots in Gandhian agronomics. Edited excerpts from an interview to BusinessLine: * Given the agrarian crisis in India today, how relevant are Gandhi's economic principles based on the village economy, and equitable distribution of resources? They are relevant in the context of Gandhi's view of gram swaraj (village self-rule), which...

-The Hindu The credibility of the RBI, the CSO and the Niti Aayog has taken a beating in recent times due to political interference Nobel laureate Oliver Williamson pondered over an important question, around 25 years ago: “Why are the ambitions of Economic Development practitioners and reformers so often disappointed?” According to him, “one answer is that development policymakers and reformers are congenital optimists. Another answer is that good plans are regularly...