-The Hindu The growth-at-all-cost mantra has left a vast majority of people impoverished. If the first year of the BJP government is any indication, its five-year stint may turn out to be the worst period for India’s environment and ecosystem-dependent people since the 1980s. This is saying a lot, given that none of the previous governments has been particularly sensitive to issues of fresh air and water, productive soil, healthy forests and grasslands....

-Hindustan Times The NDA government is confident of winning over some naysayers by keeping its doors open to adopting a few changes they may propose to the contentious land bill that has been referred to a joint parliamentary panel, sources said. Their support will be crucial in the Rajya Sabha where the government lacks the numbers and will be equally important if a joint session of Parliament is called to clear the...

-The Hindu Govt. accused of backtracking on promise of loan waiver Mumbai: Farmers in Maharashtra are using the phrase bure din (bad days) to describe their condition. Akshay Tale last spoke to his close friend Neelesh Walke at around 2.45 p.m. on December 30 last year. Neelesh, who faced a Rs. 2 lakh debt, seemed anxious but showed no signs that he was considering any extreme step. At around 4 p.m., Neelesh, barely 23,...

-The Telegraph Shreya Singhal has helped undo what the UPA, the NDA and Mamata Banerjee had done to free speech. Shreya, the girl who once woke up with consternation to news that two girls in Maharashtra had been booked for a Facebook post, was the first petitioner who approached the Supreme Court against Section 66A, which was struck down today. Section 66A of the Information Technology Act has been the favourite tool...

-NDTV New Delhi: The end of Section 66A, the controversial law that allowed arrests for offensive content online, marks a big victory for Shreya Singhal, the young law student who was among the first to challenge it in the Supreme Court. "I am ecstatic. It was grossly offensive to our rights, our freedom of speech and expression and today the Supreme Court has upheld that," Shreya told NDTV moments after the court...