-Livemint.com Raju Shetty, SSS founder and MP from Hatkanangle, says Maharashtra farmers are feeling ‘let-down and betrayed’ by three years of the Modi rule Mumbai: The ‘Sangharsha Yatra’ launched by all opposition parties in Maharashtra to demand a farm loan waiver may have ended but chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is unlikely to see any let-up in the farmers’ protest across the state. What is worse for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government...

-Livemint.com GM mustard is as safe and nutritious as regular mustard, the environment ministry says, even as India awaits ts final word on commercial production New Delhi: Genetically modified (GM) mustard plants are as safe and nutritious as regular mustard, the environment ministry said, even as the country await its final word on commercial production. In the backdrop of protests against GM mustard, the ministry on Saturday published an eight-page Frequently Asked Questions...

-IANS Crimes from murders to rapes to dacoities to caste conflicts and communal tensions Lucknow: Two months is not a long time in Politics to fall from grace, especially when a landslide of public support has propelled you to power. But in Uttar Pradesh, the honeymoon period of the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government seems to have been spiked by a series of incidents of heinous crimes and law and order...

-Livemint.com Experts say a government-sponsored pledge loan scheme could still help Maharashtra tide over the tur crisis and provide relief to farmers Could Maharashtra government and the Centre have mitigated Maharashtra’s tur (pigeon pea) crisis by facilitating and encouraging pledge loans? Yes, say farm sector experts, bankers, warehouse industry officials and former government officials. Pledge loans are loans secured by farmers from banks against their farm produce deposited at a warehouse. Timely government intervention...

-Livemint.com One-off gains from Income Disclosure Scheme 2016 call for scepticism about any immediate claims of demonetisation having widened India’s income tax net News reports have quoted government officials making claims about a record increase in the number of income tax payers in 2016-17. Should such claims be seen as a success of demonetisation in forcing unscrupulous individuals to become a part of income tax net? An analysis of direct tax collection...