The Hindu Business Line In an article on Monday, this writer pointed out how it is a challenging task to double farmers’ income, given the fall in output prices and the higher cost of farm inputs. In an interview, Ashok Dalwai, CEO, Doubling Farmers’ Income Committee, talks about the various measures the Centre is taking to ensure it is on the right track and reaches its target by 2022. According to...

-TheWire.in Did the auto sector's woes go hand-in-hand with the boom in affordable housing segment under PMAY? Sales in the auto sector and in related industries have fallen considerably in India. Maruti-Suzuki, the country’s leading car manufacturer, has reported a 32.7% decline in its total vehicle sales. There is a similar situation across the sector, including the two-wheeler industry. The sector has already lost over 300,000 jobs. What explains the massive slowdown in...

-Hindustan Times It has also exempted projects with a proposed capacity expansion up to 40% from the requirement of public consultations, with certain riders. In a move that could turn out to be a bonanza for the mining and infrastructure sectors, the environment ministry is considering a number of relaxations in the environment impact assessment (EIA) process that is carried out for development projects, including mining, before they are given the go-ahead. In...

-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 The campaign to end open defecation can succeed only if it takes communities with it India’s declaration on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi that its rural areas are now open defecation-free will be acknowledged around the world as a milestone in its developmental journey. Cleanliness and sanitation were central to Gandhi’s concerns for his vast number of impoverished countrymen, and should ideally have been pursued zealously by governments...