-Down to Earth International prices of basmati have been declining over the last two years With prices of grains and cereals plummeting worldwide, basmati rice exporters have urged the Union commerce ministry to include packaged basmati rice in the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS). MEIS allows exporters of certain goods access to “Free on Board (FOB)” value, which means the shipping charges are borne by the importer instead of the exporter....

-The Telegraph The Narendra Modi government's decision to abolish the National Development Council is a further blow against the federal structure of our republic. True, the NDC did not have a constitutional status, and differed in this respect from the Inter-State Council, whose activation was often demanded by the Left, precisely because it was a constitutional body, for deciding inter alia on the composition and terms of reference of finance commissions....

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Delhi High Court today stayed a ban on management quotas in private schools clamped by the Arvind Kejriwal government, paving the way for admissions to resume in 2,500-odd institutions. In its interim order, the court referred to an earlier judgment that such quotas could only be abolished by passing a law, not through an "office order" of the kind the AAP government had issued. The court also upheld 11...

-TheWire.in The minister suggested making prenatal sex determination mandatory for all pregnancies to avoid sex selective abortions. Doctors and women’s rights activists on what this will mean in practice. New Delhi: How do we improve the low status of girl children in India, or even ensure their existence and survival once the technologies that enable sex-selective abortion are widespread? On Monday, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi presented a...

-The Indian Express Lack of adequate staff, payment delays undermine MGNREGA in a drought-hit district The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has completed 10 years and the NDA government recently claimed that its rule has resulted in a “transformation” in the implementation of the scheme. The veracity of the claim is highly questionable as we observe a wide lacuna in its implementation in several places. Here, we focus...