-Huffington Post blog A result of dysfunctional municipal planning and governance. The flooding woes of Indian cities have hit the headlines yet again, with Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Agartala being among the worst affected. As for the response to these crises—there is enough evidence to indicate that the patchwork solutions that have been employed will work like steroid shots that might mitigate the issue temporarily, but worsen it in the future. Planning in...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said that Rs 15.28 lakh crore --or 99% of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore demonetised by withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on November 8, 2016 --has been deposited with banks. The disclosure dashes hopes of the government earning a windfall by extinguishing trillions of rupees worth demonetised currency that has not been returned. In its annual report, the...

-Hindustan Times The central government has extolled RERA as a panacea for exploitation of home buyers with the establishment of an independent authority in each state. But its own actions in the Capital reflect poorly on the objective The Real Estate (Regulation) Act, 2016, the flagship legislation to protect home buyers, has come into force, but its implementation on the ground continues to lag, with the central and state governments equally lax...

-PTI   NEW DELHI: An additional investment of Rs 6,399 billion is required from both public and private sectors to enable doubling of farmers' real income by 2022-23, a government committee said in its latest report. At present, public investment is below national average in states like Assam, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Punjab and Odisha. Less developed states in the eastern region continue to lag behind in...

-The Hindu Business Line At an organic market in Odisha, middle-class consumers get to interact with the producers of their food and appreciate traditional knowledge systems One Sunday morning in January, I visited an organic produce market located amidst dense bougainvillea creepers and rows of trees, on the grounds of the six-decade-old Christian Hospital in Bissamcuttack, a town in western Odisha’s Rayagada district. In policy and public imagination, Odisha, particularly its western districts...