Economic Survey 2013: spending on social sectors increased, but expenditure on rural development dipped

Expenditure on healthcare was stagnant

Minimum support price: Centre forms panel to consider legal guarantee

Committee to look into zero-budget farming, cropping pattern 

Bihar's striking contractual teachers left to fend for themselves amid lockdown

More than 400,000 teachers suffer from financial crunch, 60 die so far

Not quite the pulse of the nation

Yellow pea catches more heat than consumers

Centre hikes MSP as kharif sowing begins

MSP hike for 17 crops was approved June 8; this is likely to encourage farmers to diversify and switch to these crops

Panchayati Raj institutions in Bihar submitted utilisation certificates for only 42% of grants received: CAG

Staff crunch in PRIs in the state impacted the devolution of functions, the audit highlighted

Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (July 4, 2023)

Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal  

District formation in Indian states is a tricky decision

Formation of districts leads to infra development, employment generation; But brings in operational costs too

This Champaran school shows the way for girl education, but has no govt support 

Set up in Kasturba Gandhi’s name, the school was neglected until eforts by activists six years ago   

A national emergency: SC slams Centre on COVID-19 mismanagement

The Supreme Court takes suo motu cognizance of the COVID-19 situation and might take over all related cases from high courts  

Government to pay Rs 11,000 crore for MGNREGA in drought-hit states

While hearing a case on the matter, the Supreme Court slammed the Centre for its ‘non-serious’ attitude and directed it to give …

“Don’t touch my car” syndrome at cost of our health

It is ironical that the city has paced up action on commercial and public transport vehicles in the city – trucks, buses, autos and taxis &…

Maharashtra proposes to reduce eco-sensitive areas to one-third

Environmentalists are wary of the state government’s decision that contradicts earlier expert-committe reports 

Voting in the global marketplace

Sustainable public procurement is about governments using their large spending power to send a signal to markets that they are interested in …

Delhi government puts cap of Rs 4,500 on H1N1 test

Private labs were reportedly charging as high as Rs 10,000 for a single test

Governance matters

It is time we focused on strengthening the capacity of regulatory agencies

OOXML reconsidered for e-governance

India sets up an organizational structure for climate negotiations

Land Titling Bill: silent on rights of tribals and the poor

Land Titling Bill silent on settling rights of tribals and the poor

SC admonishes Centre for poor affidavit on solid waste management

The Supreme Court bench, which was hearing a PIL on Solid Waste Management Rules, came down heavily on the government counsel for not fully …

After several deaths, government finally takes note of the seriousness of swine flu

Haryana reports 23 deaths, Delhi three; Delhi government issues advisory to hospitals to ensure availability of isolation wards, medicines

Greater trust in government, people could have reduced COVID-19 caseload, fatality rate: Study

Less corrupt government resulted in more widespread, efficient COVID-19 vaccine coverage in some countries

Agrarian crisis one of the biggest challenges for new govt

Sustainability, more than anything else is agriculture’s biggest challenge. Whoever can manage water can claim to be Indian agriculture&…

Commercial surrogacy could soon be illegal in India

Health industry estimates put the size of India's surrogacy business at about Rs 900 crore

Financial devolution

With increased funds and Centrally Sponsored Schemes, India’s states now urgently need the institutional mechanism to manage this responsibility