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Clear Cut Magazine

SURAT A CITY BUILT BY MIGRANTS

Ask most people what Surat is known for, and they will say diamonds, or silk, or perhaps the fact that it is one of India’s cleanest cities. Almost nobody will say the real answer: Surat is, more than anything else, a city built entirely by people who came from somewhere else. At various points over…

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Indian Fertility Rate Drops Below Replacement Levels: A Paradigm Shift in India’s Demographic Saga

In the context of India’s population over several decades, there is only one factor that has been a recurring topic of debate – growth. From overcrowding to public facilities, all issues related to India’s population revolved around one idea, namely, that India’s population will continue to grow at an unprecedented pace. All that is set…

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It’s your money… It’s your India… One word only: Welfare or Development?

Budget Trends: Welfare vs Capital Expenditure Recent Union budgets have explicitly favored capital investment. The table below summarizes Union spending; the capital (capex) share of total expenditure has climbed from ~17% in FY2022-23 to ~23% in FY2026-27. Revenue expenditure (salaries, subsidies, subsidies etc.) has grown more slowly. States, facing rising debt-to-GSDP ratios (>40% in some)…

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From 0.07% To 1.59%: The Quiet Arithmetic Of Inclusive Entrepreneurship In India

A MECHANICAL ENGINEER FROM HAZARIBAGH Balwant Lal Suman spent over fifteen years as a mechanical engineer before deciding he wanted to build something of his own. From Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, with no inherited capital and no existing network into government procurement, he founded Rigtech Infra, a manufacturing unit producing pipes for infrastructure applications. The dream was…

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2.8 Lakh Villages, One Deadline: Inside India’s Biggest Rural Employment Reset

THE PROMISE INSIDE THE PAPERWORK Bureaucratic transitions rarely make for compelling reading. Scheme names change, fund codes get reissued, ministries hold review meetings. Most of rural India never notices the difference. But on July 1, 2026, something genuinely consequential is scheduled to happen: India’s rural employment guarantee architecture, anchored for nearly two decades around MGNREGA,…

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The Indore Declaration: BRICS stopped talking and started farming

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED Indore, June 13, 2026. Eleven nations. One room. One unanimous vote. The 16th BRICS Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting produced the Indore Declaration. It was a farmer-centric compact, adopted without dissent, binding nearly half the world’s agricultural land under a shared commitment to food security, climate resilience, and seed sovereignty. Under India’s…

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