-The Telegraph New Delhi: A nationwide network of farmers today dubbed the demonetisation exercise "the most hurtful scheme since independence" and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pledges for the agriculture sector announced on December 31 were "a rehash of what already exists". The network of farmers' associations and representatives from across the country said in a letter sent to the Prime Minister that the demonetisation move had shown a "dismaying disregard"...

-Livemint.com The impact of demonetisation on the organized sector creates a visible effect. The suffering of Bharat is diffused, invisible, but hugely more painful ‘Why doesn’t the informal sector, supposedly badly hit by demonetisation, protest or scream in pain?’. Defenders of demonetisation often pose this question. The question assumes that the suffering poor people face because of government policies always finds political expression. If you want an answer to the question, please...

-Hindustan Times Water management should be at the heart of all smart city PLAnning. While there is a lot of emphasis on transportation and infrastructure development, water management remains limited to treatment of waste water, quality monitoring, and smart metering in the government’s smart cities strategy. No clear PLAns have emerged on how smart cities are to be linked with their water catchments to ensure sustainable provision of water. More clarity is...

-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy In keeping with the spirit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the Union government had, in 2004, introduced a pre-legislative consultative policy for public policymaking. In July 2004, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, which rode to power on the twin slogans of development and good governance, launched a website, MyGov.in, to push forward its mandate of participatory governance. In...

-Down to Earth Eighteen months and Rs 4,275.31 crores later, not even 0.1 per cent of the project could be completed "By the time the nation completes 75 years of its Independence (2022), every family will have a pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24x7 electricity supply and access." It was May 2014 and the Modi-led government had just come to power. A year later, during the presentation of Annual...