As ecological risks intensify across India’s mountain states, the question is no longer whether forests generate national benefits, but how these benefits and risks are being recognised and internalised within the country’s fiscal federal architecture. Forests have been part of India’s tax devolution formula since the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FC14), signalling an important shift in recognising them as fiscal assets. The underlying logic…

A grand dame of Kolkata’s Park Street prepares to celebrate her 100th birthday Even as she prepares to turn 100 next year, a grand lady of Park Street in Kolkata remains as vibrant and vivacious as ever. Of Swiss parentage, she made herself at home in what was then called Calcutta, one of the most…