-Down to Earth While other states had declared drought months ago, Gujarat govt kept calling it a “scarcity of water” While other states like Karnataka, Maharshtra, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh had declared drought at the very offset of the southwest monsoon, and began work on mitigation measures, the Gujarat Government remained silent despite receiving deficit rainfall in most of the districts. Until yesterday, the Gujarat Government had been terming the situation...

-Down to Earth The schemes Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel announced soon after taking oath will not help those who take loans from money lenders Living up to their poll promises, Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel, the newly elected chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, soon after taking oath, announced that their Government will waive off farm loans. While the MP Government will waive off loans of up to Rs 2...

-The Hindu The former Chief Election Commissioner on the EVM controversy, why the Supreme Court’s verdict on criminals in politics is a missed opportunity, and electoral bonds The debate on the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) refuses to settle, with political parties continuing to voice their concerns about malfunctioning machines. Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi explains how EVMs work, why he is disappointed with the Supreme Court for refusing to...

-The Telegraph Their demand for assured remunerative prices, therefore, is perfectly justified There are occasions when one suddenly becomes aware not just of the inadequacy of economic concepts for understanding reality but even of their obfuscating role. One such occasion was the recent kisan march in Delhi. The peasants have been facing distress for long, which has resulted in more than three lakh suicides over the last two-and-a-half decades, in growing indebtedness...

-The Hindu Charter of demands presented to all parties in Rajasthan for action by next govt. Jaipur: Tribal groups in Rajasthan have demanded that the next elected Government in the State reveal the status of each of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with reference to tribal communities and declare their status targets. The activists said that no political party had depicted its commitment to work for sustainable development of tribal people. A manifesto...