The recent Government of India  decision  to make its credit-linked subsidy scheme for urban housing more attractive for the middle income groups by offering them a higher carpet area than what hitherto was the case has come under sharp criticism of the country's top urban experts, who say, it would dilute the "core pro-poor character" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much publicised urban housing thrust.

  While the Narendra Modi government may want to fight gender inequality by  passing  the triple talaq bill in the Lok Sahba, a recent study has revealed that Delhi’s 75% of young Hindu women in the group 18-25 practice ghunghat. Based on high profile Social Attitude Research, India (SARI) survey, the study also finds that, in this young age, whopping 98% women in rural Rajasthan, 90% in urban Rajasthan, and 91% in rural Uttar Pradesh, and 90% in urban Uttar Pradesh practice ghughat.

The Gujarat elections may be over, but the dilemma whether “angry” Patidar community – forming 12% of Gujarat – voted against the BJP remains strong.Young Patidar leader Hardik Patel, in a state of disbelief, says, this happened because the Electronic Voting Machines were tampered with, insisting, had it been a free and fair polls, the BJP’s tally couldn’t be more than 80-82, others do not seem to agree instead of 99 in a house of 182.

The Government of India’s recent “in principle”  clearance  to the international airport at Jewar, off Delhi, 16 years after the idea was first floated, is one of the several aerotropolis projects proposed across the world, which have been cited by a top campaign organization as points of concern for massive evictions, affecting environment and livelihood.

Vikas and his sister Kritika Pointing towards a whopping digital gender divide, UNICEF in a new  report , has said that if globally, 12 per cent more men than women used the internet in 2017, "in India, less than one third of internet users are female."  Elsewhere , UNICEF warns, "Recently, India has made a public push towards a more digitalized economy, including reducing dependency on physical cash. If girls and women remain digitally illiterate, they risk becoming further marginalized in society and at home."

  By Rajiv Shah  The Gujarat state assembly polls, which saw the BJP's tally come down to 99 from 115 in 2012, has shown that, while the Congress has been able to "catch" the wrath of the rural voters, it failed to impress the urban citizens. According to one estimate, out of 55 urban seats, Congress won just 12, while BJP won 43. On the other hand, in the rural areas, out of 127 seats, BJP won 57 seats, while the Congress won 71.

  In a major revelation, a top report by an international non-profit organization, World Inequity Lab, the total per adult income among the top 0.001% of India’s population rose by a whopping 3,083% between 1980 and 2016, compared to just about 235% in the world. In Europe it rose just by 120% and in US-Canada by 629%.

It's indeed a shocking accusation, especially for we Gujarat-based journalists. Subir Ghosh -- the writer who shot into prominence for controversially criticising Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India's top industrial house, for cronyism in a book he co-authored, "Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis" -- has called Gujarat-based journalists, without naming them, of "intellectual laziness" for failing to expose state PSU Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC). In his new book, which was released recently in Ahmedabad ahead of state assembly elections, "Grand Illusion: The GSPC Disaster and the Gujarat Model", Ghosh does not stop here, he continues to heap insults on Gujarat journalists, saying, they did not report or question the the GSPC's actual reserves in its Krishna-Godavari misadventure, announced by Narendra Modi to be 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf). Ghosh says, not only did newspaper reports seemed to buy the Modi...

President at Ghela Somnath temple, near Jasdan, Sept 4  There is strong flutter among Sangh Parivar insiders. For the first time, they have begun conceding, the party's Hindutva agenda is falling apart, that too in a state which has been it's political lab since mid-1980s. Riding on this agenda, based on which the party ruled Gujarat for 22 years, Narendra Modi stirringly emerged on the national canvas in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, winning comfortable majority.

  Even as Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has  claimed , while belatedly releasing the party’s manifesto, that Gujarat has recorded “an average growth rate of 10% in the last five years… at a time when there was no boom in the global or national economy”, veteran economist Prof YK Alagh has told Counterview that the growth rate for agriculture at constant prices (discounting inflation) has been about 1.5% over the last two years.

  Even as the Government of India continues to bask in glory over Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rising from 5.7% to 6.3% in the second quarter of 2017-18, two senior economists have come up with data to suggest that there was deceleration in key sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and construction, and, "more importantly, in investment".

Subir Ghosh In a new book,  Subir Ghosh , Bangalore-based journalist, researcher and writer, quoting an ex-Government of India bureaucrat, has alleged that the former bluechip state public sector undertaking (PSU) Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has had links with a company that was associated with dubious business concerns mentioned in the infamous Panama Papers. Titled “Grand Illusion: The GSPC Disaster and the Gujarat Model”, the book’s writer is a co-author of the controversial “Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis”, which has invited Rs 100 crore defamation  suit  from the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). The  book  was released in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Published by  Paranjoy Guha Thakurta , another co-author of “Gas Wars”, the book quotes former economic affairs secretary EAS Sarma as writing to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) “bringing in the Panama Papers angle”, says Ghosh, after the ED did not respond to an earlier plea to investi...

  Top British daily Financial Times (FT), even as recognizing that India’s growth rate is "lacklustre" and prime minister Narendra Modi’s policies are "floundering", has said in a hard-hitting editorial that, the "increasingly authoritarian leader still enjoys a favourable rating from nearly nine out of 10 people in the country" largely because of "lack of a competent, credible opposition".