-The Indian Express Among the eight Northeast states, AFSPA is now applicable only in Nagaland, Manipur (excluding Imphal), Assam and parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Mizoram and Tripura reported no INCidents of insurgency in 2017, the officials said. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has been withdrawn from Meghalaya and its area of operation in Arunachal Pradesh has been restricted to eight police stations bordering Assam and three districts adjoining Myanmar, according...

-Scroll.in A new report says that a crop-neutral direct payout scheme might be better than paying farmers the difference between market price and production cost. Raising minimum support prices to 1.5 times the cost of production could severely distort agricultural markets, suggests a new report from the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. The report takes a look at government schemes to bolster the crop procurement process. The Centre offers...

-The Hindu The focus must be on enhancing rape conviction rates and taking steps to rehabilitate and empower survivors Amid belligerent demands for capital punishment for rapists, on Sunday the President signed an ordinance that introduces the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12. But this clamour for introducing the most stringent punishment has conveniently sidestepped the more cogent criticism of the systemic failures in addressing...

-The Hindu Project will be on display at IIT-Delhi’s Open House To come up with a solution to deal with air pollution in the Capital during the winter due to stubble burning, Kriya Labs, a start-up INCubated at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi has come up with a method to convert agro-waste into pulp that can be used to make bioethanol, paper and tableware. Biodegradable The team, led by Professor Neetu Singh, said farmers...

-Down to Earth More than creating financial crunch for upcoming sowing season, cash crunch is impacting the prices at which farmers are selling their produce While the Union government is promising that cash crunch in the market would end soon, the farmers have already started feeling the pINCh badly. The fears of demonetisation have come back for them. They are in soup because not only is this the harvest season, but also...