-Scroll.in A contentious clause in the legislation has made experts apprehensive. Among the changes introduced by the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday, is to allow electoral registration officers to ask new voters for their Aadhaar numbers to establish their identities. Officials could also use the 12-digit unique identification number linked to residents’ biometric details to authenticate the identities of already registered voters. The government has...

-Down to Earth Most of the victims were targeted for “causing health issues or crop failure” Witch-hunts are still highly prevalent in 12 of Odisha’s 30 districts — especially Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Malkangiri, Gajapati and Ganjam — a new report has claimed. Most victims of such superstitious practices were targeted for “causing health issues or crop failure”. Around 27 per cent cases were triggered by health issues in children, 43.5 per cent by...

-MoneyControl.com India has suspended futures trading in seven commodities with immediate effect in its latest move to rein in soaring inflation. The Finance Ministry has suspended trading in futures contracts of some agricultural commodities for one year to reign in inflation. Trading in seven commodities - paddy (non-basmati), wheat, chana, mustard seeds and its derivatives, soya bean and its derivatives, crude palm oil and moong - has been suspended with immediate effect, according...

-NetworkIdeas.org The very day, December 11, when the Indian finance ministry spuriously claimed a robust recovery in the post-pandemic Indian economy, newspapers carried news of an acceleration in the US inflation rate. The inflation rate in November 2021 over November of the preceding year had been 6.8 per cent in the US, which was higher than the corresponding rate in any month over the previous 40 years; in particular, petrol prices...

-The Telegraph The agrarian laws might have been repealed but are we any wiser about what it was that the farmers were so against, what reforms they could do with instead of the ones thrust upon them? Even in retreat over the farm laws, the Modi government adopted the same top-down approach it employed while bringing them in in May 2020. Pleasantly surprised as they were by the Prime Minister’s unexpected announcement,...