-Hindustan Times The Indian farmer needs to sell his produce with as little intermediation as possible in order to make decent profits. One of the biggest roadblocks for this to happen is lack of mass demand for the majority of farm produce Faced with the spectre of rural anti-incumbency after the Gujarat results, the Modi government is in firefighting mode. Reportedly, a scheme is being planned to provide partial support to state...

-Hindustan Times Drunken driving will invite a fine of Rs.10,000, talking on phones while driving will result in a fine of Rs.5,000, and for jumping red light, driving without seat belt and helmet, the proposed fine is Rs.1,000. A parliamentary panel has agreed to a 10% annual increase in the fines for various traffic violations including drunken driving, talking on mobile, rash and negligent driving. The panel was studying the Motor Vehicles (Amendment)...

-Business Standard Jaitley said the Aadhaar Act, which gave legal backing to the programme in 2016, had substantial provisions to ensure privacy Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reiterated the privacy credentials of the Aadhaar programme and said that the government was open to suggestions from the civil society and stakeholders to further strengthen the unique identification programme’s infrastructure.   Speaking at the launch of a book on the biometric system on Saturday, Jaitley said that...

-Livemint.com Jean Drèze’s new book of essays defends action-oriented research, especially in the field of development economics Designing government policy to eradicate corruption is not easy. As the “demonetization” exercise demonstrated, such earnest endeavours can have big and unintended consequences and they often might not proceed according to plan. Although not concerning itself with demonetization, a new book by economist Jean Drèze delves into the challenges of making public policy for India....

-MoneyLife.in The government’s penchant for painting all legitimate questions about its faulty policy-making as scaremongering or anti-national is getting rather irksome. Prime minister Narendra Modi (at the FICCI annual general meeting) and finance minister Arun Jaitley have both responded to fears over the implications of the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill (FRDI Bill) , 2017, by lashing out at critics and reassuring people that the government will protect bank deposits....