Budgetary allocation to a particular sector indicates how much priority the government assigns to that sector as compared to the rest. A preliminary analysis by the Inclusive Media for Change team indicates that the actual expenditure (net of receipts and recoveries) by two of the country’s most important ministries, namely the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoAFW) and the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) was less than 1 percent...

-Human Rights Watch Reform Laws Choking Freedom of Expression, Association New York: The Indian government failed to stop or credibly investigate vigilante Attacks against minority religious communities during 2017, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing its World Report 2018. Many senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) publicly promoted Hindu supremacy and ultra-nationalism at the expense of fundamental rights for all Indians. Extremist Hindu groups, many claiming to be affiliated...

-The Hindu Business Line Lingering distress in the sector may force the govt to think innovatively New Delhi: Agriculture sector, which suffered badly despite higher production in the last two years, may be a key focus area for the NDA government, when it presents its last full-fledged Union Budget before the 2019 general elections. Attending a function recently in the Capital, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unequivocally said that that the farm sector...

-The Hindu Many States have initiated ‘reforms’ of the public distribution system that are hurting millions of people India’s public distribution system (PDS) is in danger of being derailed in several States across the country. Recent disruptions of the PDS have taken different forms, from compulsory biometric authentication to so-called direct benefit transfer (DBT). The consequences are alarming, but tend to go unreported. Biometric mix-ups Jharkhand is a prime example of this problem. By...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Reading the riot act, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was "absolutely illegal" for anyone to Attack couples marrying outside their caste and warned the government that if it did not bring a legislation to protect such couples, the court would lay down guidelines. Referring a couple of times to the murder of Nitish Katara by the kin of the girl he was in love...