-News18.com In an interview with News18’s Rupashree Nanda, Dreze, who was a member of Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council and an architect of the National Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), says that there have been no major initiatives in the social field in the last four years, with the partial exception of Swachh Bharat. Government data reveal that the Indian economy is growing at a robust rate but noted economist Jean Dreze believes...

-Livemint.com India’s weather office has forecast a normal monsoon. Bountiful rains in the June-to-September period are critical for about 800 million Indians who depend directly or indirectly on farming New Delhi: Gangabhishan Thaware, a 53-year-old farmer from the drought-prone Marathwada region of Maharashtra, took an unusual step in July last year. Thaware and his fellow villagers had toiled on their fields and spent thousands of rupees on seeds and fertilizers, hopeful...

-Livemint.com For the first time during the tenure of the present government, overall inflation of food articles is negative, implying a decline in prices Last week the India Meteorological Department (IMD) presented its first forecast for the monsoon this year. The forecast at 97% of the long period average (LPA) suggested yet a third year of normal monsoon rains, following 2016 and 2017. This should have ideally brought cheer to farmers struggling...

-The Hindu Project will be on display at IIT-Delhi’s Open House To come up with a solution to deal with air pollution in the Capital during the winter due to stubble burning, Kriya Labs, a start-up incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi has come up with a method to convert agro-waste into pulp that can be used to make bioethanol, paper and tableware. Biodegradable The team, led by Professor Neetu Singh, said farmers...

-Business Standard Although the rate of cash circulation has surpassed the pre-demonetisation level, it is not in tandem with the rate of economic growth Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across various states are running dry with the present situation reminiscent of demonetisation of high-value currency notes one-and-a-half years back. States, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur and Telangana, have reported shortage of cash at ATMs. A stock-taking analysis submitted by...