-The Hindu City fetes Jadav Payeng and Abdul Kareem — men who built forests from scratch. Mumbai: Leaders of nations the world over devote a large part of their time, money and policy framework to the growth of the economy. But if they held their breath for a minute, they would realise it is life-sustaining oxygen that needs their urgent attention. At the recently-concluded Paris climate change conference, Jadav “Molai” Payeng, 52, known...

-The Hindu Business Line A CAG report has laid bare the fact that rice millers have for decades reaped undue gains even as they failed to replenish the national food stock Much like rice spilling out of a tear in the sack, the country’s food procurement system has been leaking crores of rupees every year and impoverishing the government. Last week, in a report presented to Parliament the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG)...

-The Hindu Business Line The new travel policy in Delhi can lead to a commuting disaster if public transport is not able to absorb the surplus Currently, 56.81 lakh two-wheelers and 27.90 lakh cars and jeeps ply on Delhi’s roads, according to the official state government statistics. These figures don’t include the taxis. Which means a total of 84.71 lakh private vehicles. In most cases, one vehicle equates to one person. Let’s say...

-The Indian Express   The odd-even car proposal is being enforced in Delhi without any evidence or cost-benefit analysis    Mahatma Gandhi had said, “Action in the absence of knowledge can be dangerous and worse than no action at all”. This sage advice is ignored by most Indians. In the face of a serious pollution problem prevalent in most Indian cities, especially the smaller towns, we pretend that it is only the people...

-The Hindu The National Green Tribunal’s decision to bar the registration of new and old diesel vehicles in Delhi till its next hearing on January 6 comes as a blow — though a temporary one for now — to passenger vehicle manufacturers. Automobile-makers have, in recent years, been building (from scratch, in a few cases) and scaling up their production capacities for diesel cars, driven by the surge in demand for...