-Business Standard States sent initial queries for research to NIPFP in Feb-March; Work on research started around July New Delhi: Months before demonetisation, in February-March, the Madhya Pradesh and Haryana state governments had approached the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) to evaluate Pune-based NGO ArthaKranti’s proposals, which include the withdrawal of high-denomination notes. The initial queries for conducting the research from the two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state governments went...

-The Hindu On the tenth anniversary of the historic passage of the Forest Rights Act, tribal resistance to defend their rights is growing even as government after government tries to dilute its provisions On this day 10 years ago the historic Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act was passed in the Lok Sabha. Its conception and passage was the result of the decades of struggles and...

-Economic and Political Weekly Documents seized by the Income Tax Department in private corporations imply pay-offs were made to the PM and leading politicians. At 8 pm on 8 November 2016, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to a live broadcast on Doordarshan to make the historic announcement that the government was demonetising notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, emphasising his commitment to ridding India of the “evils of corruption” and...

-Scroll.in The disruptive impact of the demonetisation policy is most evident in Varanasi’s sari-fabric industry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to demonetise high-denomination notes has delivered a crippling blow to the uniquely Indian system of financing business. This outcome is ironic for the prime minister whose party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is forever engaged in extolling India’s contribution to knowledge in ancient times and singing praises of Indian culture. From Delhi to Varanasi...

-The Indian Express Paddy growers in the poll-bound state suffer huge losses from unanticipated insect pest attack. Jalandhar: For Punjab’s farmers, fortune always seems to smile on the other side. Last year, it was the whitefly sucking pest that ravaged their cotton crop. This time round, it’s the brown plant hopper (BPH) that has caused significant yield and price realisation losses for paddy grown in large swathes of the state. And there...