Huge sums of money are allocated for the rural and agrarian sectors by the Union Government in its annual budget every year, and rightly so. But in the absence of an adequate number of officials in rural areas, can the various schemes and programmes of the government be implemented properly? We will find the answer if we think about this issue deeply and the answer that would emerge should bother...

-The Times of India At a time when cities are struggling to deal with heaps of garbage, here is an organisation that is focusing on decentralization of waste. City-based Institute Of Natural Organic Agriculture has been providing sustainable waste management solution for the past 25 years. Founded in 1992 by Late M R Bhidey and R T Joshi, the institute is currently run by three environmententhusiast entrepreneurs, Manjushree Tadvalkar, Nutan Bhajekar and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The environment ministry has said that a report reviewing the requirement of environment clearance for real estate projects and buildings is now "not traceable." This reply was given on an RTI enquiry filed in July that had asked for a copy of a committee report headed by K Kasturirangan, member, Planning Commission in 2013. The RTI had also asked for a report submitted by an expert...

-Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) Press Release   New Delhi: The direction indicated by the Finance Minister's Budget Speech in general and that of the taxation policies in particular indicate a quantum leap being taken towards market fundamentalism. In the absence of any increase in the overall spending capacity of the government (Centre and States combined), the steps for fiscal decentralization (from Centre to States) have been constrained, implying only...

-Livemint.com India's fiscal architecture is undergoing a radical overhaul this budget season. On Tuesday, the NDA government accepted the Finance Commission's proposal to enhance tax devolution to states. This, coupled with efforts to rationalize and reduce centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) through the chief ministers sub-group of the NITI Aayog, and the repeated calls for cooperative federalism together suggest that decentralization to states is the new mantra. Missing from this rhetoric of decentralization...