-Reuters Bibek Debroy, an Indian economist and member of a key government panel which formulates policy on social issues slammed the United Nations’ new development goals on Tuesday, saying that having so many goals and targets would drive governments “Nuts”. World leaders are due to adopt a set of new development objectives in September, to replace eight expiring U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These will include objectives like ending poverty, reducing child...

-The News Minute Maharashtra's Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde on Wednesday was embroiled in a controversy involving alleged irregularities in awarding contracts worth Rs 206 crore and the opposition demanded a probe. Among the allegations are irregularities in awarding contracts for workbooks for students, water filters, growth monitoring machines for malnourished kids, medicines and chikkis (sweet cookies with Nuts and dryfruits in a jaggery base) earlier this year. Munde, however, rubbished...

-Livemint Tackling inequality and inclusive growth is an economic necessity for the country After Pope Francis, it is now the turn of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to raise concerns about high income inequality. Dubbed as “Francis the Marxist”, for his tweet “Inequality is the root of social evil”, the Pope has been raising issues of inequality and its consequences. The latest discussion paper by IMF not only supports the ethical...

-Huffington Post Bhau Kadam (name changed) is a small sugarcane farmer in western Maharashtra. He and his family own about 3 hectares of land. Kadam has two sons who are both graduates and work in Pune. When I asked him why he did not make his sons farmers, he said that farming is hard work, is non-remunerative and it is difficult to get labour. Besides he also thinks that a...

-The Hindu For any skill development effort to succeed, markets and industry need to play a large role in determining courses, curriculum and relevance The Union Budget 2015 paved way for the launch of a much-awaited National Skills Mission to complement Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Skill India' and ‘Make in India' exhortations. However, much work needs to be done on the ground for the government to prove that this step is a...