-The Hindu Business Line India’s manufacturing needs higher investment in education and R&D to become self-reliant and technologically competent The share of manufacturing in India’s GDP has stagnated at 16 per cent since 1991, despite economic reforms. No country ever became a manufacturing force without (a) a design capability; and (b) an institutional system that incentivises and sustains innovations. India needs a system to develop human and technical capabilities at both the...

-PTI The machines have been provided to skilled manual scavengers making them ‘sani-entrepreneurs’, officials said. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged off a fleet of 200 sewer cleaning machines in New Delhi on Thursday. The machines have been provided to skilled manual scavengers making them ‘sani-entrepreneurs’, officials said. “It is a historic day for Delhi to start this initiative and ensuring safety and dignity of human life. These machines will put an end to...

-Mongabay.com Illegal rat-hole mining in Meghalaya persists despite ruinous effects on the environment The efforts to reach the 15 miners trapped in an illegal coal mine in the East Jaintia hills of Meghalaya since December 13 continue, but they began belatedly and have faced many problems. Doomed from the beginning First, the Meghalaya government has no idea what happens inside these rat-hole mines, which are barely 2 ft wide, since mining is a private...

-The Indian Express I think packaging a significant UBIS with a simultaneous increase in the taxes on the rich will help macro-economic stability, apart from assuaging the poor who will face some of the price rise in commodities or services, when subsidies are withdrawn. After my last op-ed in this paper (The safety net of the future) several readers, intrigued by the idea of a Universal Basic Income Supplement (UBIS) proposed...

-Financial Express From camelccino to camel milk chocolate, there’s no dearth of delicacies on offer. Camel milk is in the news. And hailing its virtue is none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a gathering of farmers in Anand, Gujarat, in October, Modi narrated how he was ridiculed for describing camel milk as nutritious once. It was during his stint as chief minister of Gujarat that he had tried promoting camel...