-TheWire.in The NBCC 'model' project is hardly the totem of sustainability and responsibility. It has been fined for non-compliance of environment laws, and official planning documents expose its shaky claims of urban design and economic viability. For over four months, the national capital has seen public protests against the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’s “redevelopment” of Delhi’s seven government housing colonies. Citizens have questioned this project, which will privatise and...

-Livemint.com The Income Tax department is in the process of chalking out a new policy which will reward taxpayers who are not only honest but also consistent in filing ITRs. The rewards could include priority access at airports and railway stations. New Delhi: Want to beat the queue at airports, railway stations and toll gates on highways? Filing your income tax returns (ITR) honestly and consistently every year on time can be...

-The Hindu The debate on privatising higher education must be founded on the role of such institutions in developing a democratic and inclusive society. Motihari University, Manipur University, Hyderabad Central University, Jawaharlal Nehru University — these names have become shorthand for a set of problems that get framed differently depending on who does the analysis. The list of campuses of public-funded higher education institutions where anger is simmering or has flared up...

-National Herald Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at London School of Economics, in an interview to Tathagata Bhattacharya says the government has failed on many counts At the end of the day, it is growth and employment generation via new investment that is key to long-term economic progress. Various welfare schemes are a way of providing a social safety net to the poor in the short-run. It is performance along these two...

-The Hindu The Kerala model can be implemented across India with the same secular and gender-sensitive spirit Kumari died on September 1. She had contracted leptospirosis while doing relief work in Kerala after the floods, away from her own home which had not been affected. She was a health volunteer and prominent member of the Kudumbashree Mission in her panchayat in Ernakulum district. Kumari’s work and life symbolises the spirit of Kerala...