That Indian policy makers have had little or no empathy for the social sector and they are more concerned about business interests is widely known. However, a top international survey of five nations has provided convincing data showing that 38% of India's policy makers have little or no knowledge of even the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. The report says, as many as 15% of Indian policy makers have no knowledge of SDGs, which is the highest among the five nations surveyed. Further, 23% said have "not much" knowledge about SDGs.

India's ranking among "competing" nations Even as pointing out that India has slipped by one rank in the world competitive ranking from 39th last year to 40th this year, after massive upward swing over two previous years, the high-pofile Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) in its new  report  has found India's ranking extremely poor in providing business environment to investors.

  Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his chief ministership of Gujarat, encourage the much abused cow vigilantism, which allegedly is terrorizing minorities and Dalits across India? It would seem so, if the claim of the new report, “Lynching without End”, published by a civil rights network, Citizens against Hate, is any indication.

  In a shocking revelation, the Government of India relies on more 16 year old data while calculating the number of minority students who should receive scholarship. A recent Government of India circular says that pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes for 2017-18 for the country's minorities is to be implemented by the Government of India is "as per the Census 2001".

Prashan Bhushan Senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, convenor, Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR), has created a flutter in India's top judicial echelons by charging an Andhra Pradesh High Court judge of allegedly committing atrocities against members of the Dalit community.

Pipavav's private port visible on way to Shiyalbet The Gujarat government hasn’t yet provided a permanent physician for the “remote” island, Shiyalbet, with a population of about 15,000 off Saurashtra coast, even though it is three weeks past the cut-off date set by the Gujarat High Court for providing a doctor to the sub-health centre in the village.

  Even two months after massive floods hit North Gujarat, especially Banaskantha and Patan districts, killing about 220 people, with the Gujarat government subsequently announcing a Rs 1,500 crore package, virtually "no effort" has been made to scientifically assess the reasons responsible for what appears to be a natural disaster, or to reach out to the most needy sections, who have suffered the most.

  There is strong flutter in the top Government of India (GoI)officialdom on viability of the Japan-funded bullet train project,  agreed  upon by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad. As a reflection of this flutter, Delhi bureaucrats are circulating a Facebook post of an ex-GoI official, which tells the internal story of how the costly was considered not feasible in the past.

  Calling one of India's most controversial TV journalists Arnab Goswami "prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner of the evil forces conspiring against India", yet another right-wing "icon" in journalism, R Jagannathan, editorial director, Swarajya, has accused the former Times Now anchor of "making" his channel, Republic TV, "more about himself than the news."

  Well-known investigative journalist Rana Ayyub, whose book "Gujarat Files",  based  on her sting operations of Gujarat government officials created a huge stir last year, has alleged that a new vicious round of character assassination against her has begun over the last one week, timed with the release of the Hindi edition her book.

Prof Kaushik Basu, who has worked as chief economist of the World Bank, has said that, given the Indian economy’s massive size and extensive global linkages, “its growth slowdown is a source of serious concern not just domestically, but around the world”, adding gone are the days when India was considered “a poster child for political stability and economic growth among emerging economies.”

Karwan-e-Mohabbat, led by well-known bureaucrat-turned-human rights activist Harsh Mander, reached Ahmedabad on Monday from Rajasthan amidst surprising revelation circles in Gujarat government allegedly pressurised owners of halls across Ahmedabad not to provide a space to hold to an open dialogue with citizens on why it is necessary as never before to bring about rapprochement and peace between different communities.

  A high-profile  study , carried out by well-known international health journal, “Lancet”, has calculated that India’s health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) ranking is a poor 127th among 188 countries it has analyzed to find out how well are different countries across the globe are doing for achieving the United Nation’s goals.

  As Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes ahead with his unprecedented birthday bash at the Narmada dam on September 17, reports from the Narmada valley in Madhya Pradesh say the water levels have risen to 128.50 metres, higher than ever before, with waters entering starting to enter Rajghat and Nisarpur villages in Badwani district. Rajghat shot into prominence recently after the state administration tried to "demolish" the Gandhi Samadhi, where the ashes of the Mahatma, Kasturba and Mahadev Desai have been kept.

  Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe visited the Sabarmati Ashram on Wednesday following the latter’s arrival in Ahmedabad from Tokyo, an aware citizen has created a major ripple by making public photographs showing the main gate the Mahatma Gandhi's Ashram covered by a huge hoarding of Patanjali Yogpith.

Narmada official talking with fisherfolk in Maharashtra village A senior Government of India official has admitted that the Madhya Pradesh government has not provided fishing rights to the fisherfolk-oustees of the Sardar Sarovar dam, living on the banks of Narmada. Narmada Control Authority's (NCA's) Afroz Ahmed was in Mararashtra's Bhusha village for an interaction with the state’s fisherfolk ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday bash at the dam on September 17.

Protest by NREGA workers in Delhi on Sept 11 In a shocking revelation on the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the apex body which represents organizations working on the rural job scheme, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, has said that NREGA budgets, which reached a peak of 0.6% in 2009-10 (as a proportion of GDP), declined steadily to 0.3% in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

  A new Government of India interactive  atlas  has revealed that Gujarat’s 54.9% of women in the age group 14-49 are anemic as against the national average of 53%. Out of 21 major Indian states, the  data  show, 14 states have a lower percentage of anemic women than that of Gujarat.

Gujarat farmers belonging to 68 villages on Friday were not allowed to take their vehicles rally to the state capital Gandhinagar. While the permission for the rally was sought for about 45 km stretch, starting at Dabhol village, and ending at Gandhinagar, the police "allowed" the rally for just 25 km, stopping midway at Kalol town, about 20 km from the state capital.

Museum of Conflicts, Ahmedabad Ahmedabad-based museum of conflicts,  Conflictorium , situated in the heart of the walled city which is the latest recipient of Unesco’s prestigious World Heritage tag, has been awarded the Curry Stone Design Prize, an yearly award in honor innovative projects that use design to address pressing social justice issues.

  Is the Government of India set to go ahead with its controversial $87 billion Ket-Betwa scheme to connect two major rivers without environmental clearance? It would seem so if, following a major report on this,  facts  revealed by senior environmentalist Himanshu Thakkar are any indication.

  In a surprise move, the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, has favoured coal as the source of power instead of renewal, especially solar, energy. An environmental overview of the second volume of the Economic Survey, released recently, says, the top report has "raised issues with investing in renewable energy attributing a social cost of Rs 11 per unit of electricity."

Nuances of GDP-1 Following one of the  lowest  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates in recent years, 5.7%, in the second quarter of the financial year 2017-18, India’s top rating agency, Crisil, has said that this has brought “demonetisation pain” and goods and services tax (GST) “anxiety” again the fore.

  In a stark revelation, about 90% of the female respondents in the age group 18-30 years, interviewed in an Oxfam India report to ascertain the impact of Bollywood films on youth, admitted to either being recipients of intimate partner violence (IPV) if they were married, or spoke of IPV as an accepted social norm, if they were not.