On the world’s largest and longest UBI experiment
The experiment is ongoing in 'sequestered' 200 villages in Kenya for the next eight years and India has some lessons as it plans for a similar scheme
Forget 2022, more than 110 million Indians would remain poor forever
The next generation of the current poor Indians has high probability of remaining poor as well. Lack of access to resources like forests and …
The curious case of panchayats in Delhi
The Nagar Swaraj Bill will usher in decentralised governance in the city state, but what happened to rural panchayats?
Orphaned by apathy
Hidden from the outside world, this is the plight of the Van Taungiyas. They were hired during the British rule as resident labourers to plant …
New votebank on the block: Beneficiaries over rights-holders
Narendra Modi’s stress on governing via welfare schemes is antithetical to a rights-based approach
Mr Modi, you made the pandemic another event
Prime Minister's address to the nation is insensitive to situation, barring fleeting mentions of economic bailout
जाति विमर्श में प्राकृतिक संसाधन
जाति व्यवस्था के खिलाफ संघर्ष प्राकृतिक संसाधनों पर नियंत्रण के सवाल को लेकर छिड़ना चाहिए, न कि पिछड़ों की आजीविका को लेकर
Panchayat elections are set to become all the more important
These village-level governments have all the ingredients to make or break a political party’s fortune
Cull the caste
The fight against the caste system must be about control over natural resources, not professions of marginalised groups
Bank’s first contest
Developing countries challenge US monopoly by putting up candidates for World Bank’s presidency
Education, infrastructure saving grace for top districts: NITI Aayog report
Top performing districts still lag behind in development parameters like health and nutrition
Did economic liberalisation push govt and civil society in to battlefield?
The opening up of India’s economy increased the number of NGOs exponentially, but then…
Presidential panchayat
India's third-tier of government has a few lessons for those seeking presidential form of government
The world is pro-protests, now
While economic crisis often push people to demonstrations, there is an increasing level of dissatisfaction with democracy
Pasture posture in time of climate change
The United Nation’s latest appeal for national support to protect mobility of pastoralists brings focus to this ancient, climate-resilient …
Panchayati Raj Day: Pandemic and the panchayats
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says: ‘We need to learn more from how villages manage COVID-19 pandemic than from cities’
Global corporate taxation: The new bare minimum
The newly agreed global minimum corporate tax to prevent multinational firms from avoiding the legal cess regime is riddled with clauses to …
Modi’s COVID-19 vaccine turnaround: An answer for Supreme Court queries just in time
The bench of judges Chandrachud, Rao and Bhat have already asked the Union government to review the vaccination policy and file an affidavit by …
Mass poverty is back in India
After 45 years, the world’s fastest poverty-reducing country adds the maximum poor in a year
Rooster’s call for sensory heritage
Months after a couple filed a case against a rooster crowing early morning, France has passed a law with profound ecological meaning
Kill ‘dwarves’, recommends ‘creatively destructive’ Economic Survey
India’s small firms are holding back growth and job creation; government plans for something else to tide over job crisis
Sandalwood moment for cows; Madhya Pradesh’s proposed law will be the last nail for livestock economy
Government's proposal to make abandonment of cows punishable will make it a pariah breed and would fuel widespread black market for trade, just …
India’s criminal wastage: over 10 million works under MGNREGA incomplete or abandoned
Since April 2014, the rate of work completion has been declining at rapid pace, indicating that crucial assets for villages are not getting created
DRDA faces axe
District Rural Development Agency in conflict with Constitution; committee suggests its abolition
Roti, kapda, makaan... and vaccine: Can it sway elections
With potential COVID-19 vaccines equalling cheap foodgrains’ power as a poll promise, can vaccine sub-nationalism be far behind