-The Indian Express A report on air quality, released during the conference, said Varanasi and Allahabad have not seen a single ‘good’ air quality day in the past one year. Varanasi: Burning agricultural residue doesn’t just bring down air quality, but also leads to longer spells of dense fog, scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur have concluded. While the concentration of oxidised organic carbon that is produced after burning biomass —...

-The Telegraph An indication of how far Narendra Modi could be from the dream of making India a predominantly cashless economy is available in a survey done by a tea planters' association in the Dooars, a tribal belt that employs lakhs of Bengal's workforce in tea estates. The survey done by the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association (DBITA) in its 55 member gardens of the 80-plus estates dotting Japaiguri district...

  As per the SECtion 16 of National Food SECurity Act (NFSA), for the purpose of monitoring and review of implementation of the Act, every state shall, by notification, constitute a State Food Commission (SFC). However, based on the minutes of a meeting that was held by the SECretary in the Ministry of Food and Public Distribution on 9th November, 2016, the Attorney General of India has informed a two-judge Supreme Court...

-The New Indian Express HYDERABAD (Telengana): People of the Dakkali caste are one of the 193 communities that are categorised as Denotified Tribes or (DNTs). They are forced to beg exclusively from the Madiga Community, one of the Scheduled Castes. Banala Mangesh, a Dakkali shares how his community is discriminated against, not just by the privileged but also, the Madigas who have been subject to atrocities for centuries. “We are not eligible...

-Caravan Magazine On 8 November 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an announcement declaring that notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would not be legal tender as a part of his government’s policy to clamp down on counterfeiting and black money. It has been widely reported that this policy would directly impact the real-estate SECtor, which typically witnesses a significant amount of transactions that are made through cash to avoid...