-The Hindu Business Line Price incentives for farmers should be followed up by better marketing infrastructure The Centre, while announcing the minimum support prices for the oncoming rabi season, has stuck to its policy of announcing moderate increases in the case of cereals, while promoting a shift towards pulses and oilseeds. MSP increases have moderated after 2013, after double-digit spurts that were the norm in the preceding four years. Hence, the rise...

-Livemint.com The draft guidelines propose to levy a new water conservation fee based on quantum of groundwater extracted With the aim of completely changing the way groundwater is managed, the central government has proposed guidelines which stipulate that all industries, mining and infrastructure dewatering projects—whether existing or new—that draw or propose to draw groundwater will now need to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC). The draft guidelines, reviewed by Mint, also propose to levy...

-TheWire.in While illegal mining is worrying, what is little understood is the enormous loot that is taking place legally. Mineral owners sometimes receive less than 5% of the value of minerals. The three iron ore scams in Karnataka, Goa and Odisha have some things in common. There were widespread and diverse breaches of the constitution, laws, rules and regulations. The environment was badly damaged. The minerals were being exhausted. Enormous corruption was...

-The Indian Express Jindal, Adani, Vedanta are Big Three who transport coal from Mormugao Port. Over four months, Indian Express tracks three key routes to find a trail of health hazards, environmental damage. Panjim: Nearly 25 million tonnes of coal — evenly spread across a standard football field, this toxic black mountain will rise almost 3 km into the sky. That is the amount that will be unloaded each year at the...

-Newsclick.in Crucial elements of the data on Jan Dhan Yojana have been removed from the government website. This gives rise to many questions. On 15 August 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) scheme with the claimed objective of nation-wide financial inclusion. In his speech, he stated that the initiative was aimed at eradicating ‘financial untouchability’ by opening at least one bank account per household in...