-The Indian Express This is the biggest police crackdown in Uttar Pradesh since the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots when 1,480 people were arrested in 567 cases. The riots had claimed 63 lives and displaced an estimated 50,000 people. Lucknow: As the death toll in protests against the new citizenship law climbed to 19 in Uttar Pradesh Thursday, the state police said it had arrested 1,113 people in 327 cases registered so far and...

-The Hindu Border districts most affected; authorities caught napping despite FAO warning. Ahmedabad: Sharing borders with neighbouring Pakistan, Gujarat is under attack from hoppers — new-born locusts — that have flown in across the international border. As the swarms mature, they have ravaged farms in North Gujarat, devastating farmers in the three border districts Banaskantha, Patan and Kutch. The locusts, known as tiddis locally, have wreaked havoc on standing crops of castor, cumin,...

-The Hindu Business Line The PM-Kisan as a tool to prop up sagging rural demand, recording of tenancy to help the real cultivators and streamlining of agricultural subsidies could be three important themes for Indian agriculture in 2020. With the defeat in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in December 2018, the Government realised that to win rural votes in the General Elections in May 2019, it needed to...

-Newsclick.in The Centre had promised to release funds in a week’s time about two weeks back. At a time when the crisis-ridden economy has pushed millions against the wall, with many not being able to make ends meet, the employment guarantee scheme (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005) is adding to the distress of the poor—instead mitigating it. In Rajasthan, funds that are yet to be released for the payment of...

-Macroscan.org/ The Hindu Business Line The slowdown in registered manufacturing draws attention to the structural crisis afflicting the Indian economy, which is both generalised and deep. Please click here to read more. ...