-The Hindu We won’t allow anyone to cut our trees, say the women of Balarampur village For three generations now, and spanning 40 years, Chaturi Sahu, 70, has been unfailingly sending one male member from her family to patrol the nearby Jhinkargadi forest to ensure that its trees and shrubs are untouched. Year after year, her father-in-law, husband and son, who are part of the foot soldiers of Balarampur, a nondescript village in...

-Hindustan Times But the danger of allowing ingress to nationally critical sectors, like telecommunications, to countries that are not friendly must now be a matter of immediate national concern The debate on whether or not to censor information has been going on for centuries. The term ‘censor’ in Roman times originally referred to the function of special magistrates assigned to supervise public morals and, so long as this remained the remit, the...

-The Indian Express A balanced approach can reduce petrol price without affecting revenues. RBI mustn’t artificially shore up rupee The Brent crude oil price has changed from around $68/barrel in January to $70/barrel on November 9, touching a high of $86 on October 3. The rupee has also fallen from Rs 63.30 per US$ in January to Rs 70 on November 9. These fluctuations have created major policy problems for the...

-Financial Express From camelccino to camel milk chocolate, there’s no dearth of delicacies on offer. Camel milk is in the news. And hailing its virtue is none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a gathering of farmers in Anand, Gujarat, in October, Modi narrated how he was ridiculed for describing camel milk as nutritious once. It was during his stint as chief minister of Gujarat that he had tried promoting camel...

-The Times of India JALANDHAR: Punjab farmers have started sowing wheat as paddy harvesting enters the last stage with just one-fifth of the crop left to be cut in fields. Paddy stubble management, however, continues to be vexatious issue, both for the farmers and the state administration. The lack of gap between harvesting paddy and sowing wheat and increased time and high cost of operating subsidised straw management machines have left farmers...