-The Indian Express An urban employment guarantee programme is an idea whose time has come. Temperatures are rapidly warming up in what promises to be a blistering summer of India’s electioneering. Amidst the belligerent grandstanding on national security and the communal messaging barely below the surface, Rahul Gandhi’s announcement of a minimum income guarantee scheme came as a relief, if only because it tried to steer the public discussions to the...

-The Hindu The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a Central Monitoring Committee to ensure the implementation of action plan meant for reducing pollution stretches across the country. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “Having given due consideration to the serious issue and inadequacy of success achieved so far, we find it necessary to constitute a Central Monitoring Committee to undertake a national initiative by way of...

-The Indian Express Whichever party wins the election, the real long-term challenge is to stem the rot of institutional foundations. The headlines say that the ruling party manifesto emphasises nationalism (“nation first”), and, on the economic front, it will aspire to make India the third-largest economy in the world by the end of the next decade, to make it reach the list of top 50 countries in the ranking of Ease...

-The Times of India SOLAPUR: Mahesh Lahoo Garad, a 28-year-old onion farmer from Ranmasale village in drought-struck Solapur, has Been waiting for a bride for three years. But each time a prospective bride's family visits his home, they do not return. "They see how their daughters will have to struggle to fetch water. So they don't come back to take the talks further," says Mahesh. "It looks like I will have to...

-The Hindu The Centre has denied a Right to Information (RTI) request for details of the ongoing recruitment process for four vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC), despite a recent Supreme Court order mandating that such information be made public. The CIC is the RTI Act’s highest appellate body. “The judgment of the Honourable Supreme Court given in WP No. 436 of 2018 is under consideration of the department,” said the...