-Down to Earth The new government has to focus on the rural population, their aspirations and the economy By this time most of us know Sunaina Rawat. Still a brief introduction: she is a 12-year-old girl from a village in Uttar Pradesh. When the news channel NDTV’s head Prannoy Roy interviewed her on life and aspirations while covering elections, she immediately became one of the most imposing symbol for the country’s rural...
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Jagdeep S Chhokar, one of the founders and trustees of Association for Democratic Reforms, interviewed by Ajaz Ashraf (CaravanMagazine.in)
-CaravanMagazine.in India is often hailed for its democracy, for empowering its poor and ordinary citizens to participate in the electoral process and play a role in shaping the country. This narrative has increasingly come under strain since the Supreme Court, through its March 2003 judgment in Union of India vs Association for Democratic Reforms, made it mandatory for candidates contesting elections to disclose their wealth, educational qualification, and criminal cases pending...
More »NCR needs a plan to tackle summer air pollution
-Hindustan Times The authorities seem to wake up to the health hazard only during the winter The air pollution crisis in Delhi and in the National Capital Region (NCR) is now a year-round public health emergency. According to data provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi’s air quality on Monday was “very poor” (322); Ghaziabad was also “very poor” (384), and Gurugram was “poor” (277). The air quality of...
More »Of shells, companies and GDP -R Nagaraj
-The Hindu The government must put the MCA-21 data under scrutiny and bring transparency in calculating corporate output About a third of non-government non-financial companies in the services sector are not traceable is the finding of a National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) survey for 2016-17 that has just been released. Since such entities could be shell/fake/bogus companies included in the MCA-21 database of “active” companies used for estimating the gross domestic...
More »Are farm loan waivers a political gimmick? -Vikas Dhoot
-The Hindu Several interventions are needed on the demand and supply side to alleviate farm distress Loan waivers remain the preferred solution for governments to tackle farm distress. S. Mahendra Dev and M. Govinda Rao talk about the inability of governments to think of long-term solutions to tackle farm distress, in a discussion moderated by Vikas Dhoot. Edited excerpts: * Despite farm productivity rising, severe distress in the sector is a concern. How...
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