-The Hindu The truth may ultimately prevail about demonetisation, but the government might be able to maintain the loyalty of a large part of the public for a long time, says Amartya Sen More than two months after the demonetisation, Nobel Laureate and economist Amartya Sen says that any proper “economic reasoning could not have sensibly led to such a ham-handed policy.” He predicts that the demonetisation will hit the economy quite...

-Hindustan Times The government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are set to bring out tougher norms for cooperative banks, which have come under scanner for alleged discrepancies and irregularities in the wake of the demonetisation drive. According to a recent report by the income tax department, most banks have indulged in money laundering after the Narendra Modi government announced ban on high-value bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 from...

-Livemint.com We need a strategy to control air pollution across north India, and better monitoring is the first requirement From the debate over Arvind Kejriwal’s odd-even policy to outrage over poisonous post-Diwali smog, India’s public discourse on air pollution was centred in and around Delhi in 2016. This needs to change if we want to evolve an effective strategy to counter pollution. Before delving into the reasons for this, it might be...

-The Hindu Business Line Kirana and tea shops are doing better than businesses that involve discretionary spending The Micro-finance industry (MFI) is cursed and blessed at the same time. When there were indications that the micro-finance sector is overheating, with high growth rates, multiple lending and oppressive loan recovery practices, the withdrawal of specified bank notes (SBN) hit them. There were reports of stress from Uttar Pradesh and it appeared that there...

-Hindustan Times Chinsurah, West Bengal: A 163-year-old municipality administering a small town in West Bengal has shown the world how to manage solid waste in an eco-friendly way, potentially giving urban planners and administrators the key to tackling one of the biggest civic problems. The initiatives of Uttarpara-Kotrung municipality helped the Kolkata Solid Waste Management Improvement Project win a global award, defeating nearest contenders Auckland and Milan in urban solid waste management...