One is almost certain to hear this from an economist that if something is available at free of cost or at a subsidised rate thanks to government intervention, then people tend to overuse or overconsume such goods/ commodities. So, the best solution is to create a market for such 'almost freely available' or 'highly subsidised' goods or commodities. Once people start paying to use or consume such goods/ commodities, they...

-Down to Earth Thrice GoI has returned Punjab’s proposal of giving Rs 2,500 per acre to small, marginal farmers even as they demand Rs 6,000 per acre     As many as 361,850 small and marginal farmers in Punjab did not receive state incentives for stubble management in the last one year due to paucity of funds.  The northern state’s request for financial stimulus to pay this incentive was turned down by the...

-The Tribune Along with better forecasts, we need better monitoring and reporting of actual rainfall, water levels in rivers and incidents of Landslides. More timely and location-specific forecasts that would enable the disaster management authorities to take the necessary advance actions would help. Such emergency action plans would follow only if there is a functional, accountable and participatory disaster management mechanism in place. This month’s flood disasters in two states distant from...

-TheWire.in Promises made are hardly kept and the responsibility to maintain basic public amenities such as toilets, sewage and clean water facilities falls on the slum-dwellers themselves. This article comes from a study undertaken as part of a Centre for New Economic Studies (CNES) Visual Storyboard Initiative. The three-part photo essay on this storyboard can be accessed through the following links (Part I; Part II; Part III) and all video essays uploaded...

-The Hindu A gut-wrenching story of the poor and marginalised who work and live at Mumbai’s Deonar Landfill to earn their daily bread Rag pickers live off what the rest of the world throws away. They lead invisible lives in the Landfills that keep growing, stagnating and putrefying with items discarded by the city’s rich. The dark trail of modern life is seen and felt everywhere. Journalist Saumya Roy, who spent eight years...