-Down to Earth As many as 250 crows in Rajasthan, 1,700 migratory birds in Himachal Pradesh have died since December 2020 The Union Ministry of Environment, Science and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has ordered a strict vigil on the wintering habitats of migratory birds for any sign of a flu outbreak in the backdrop of rising deaths of birds. The ministry issued a set of guidelines January 3, 2021 in view of Himachal Pradesh...

-The Hindu Jaipur: The Congress government in Rajasthan has initiated action to bring the concurrent social audits of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’s (MGNREGA) works at village panchayats in line with the annual village plans. A target has been set to complete the exercise by January 26. Chief Secretary Niranjan Arya said here on Wednesday that socially excluded groups would be included in the planning process, with the emphasis...

-Article-14.com Uttar Pradesh uses the National Security Act against cow-slaughter suspects. In Gujarat, killing a cow attracts life imprisonment. In recent times, a constitutional reference to agriculture and animal husbandry—from which these laws flow—manifests itself mostly in violence against Muslims. Exclusive extract from a new book The chronology of the various pieces of state legislation shows that cow protection laws have become harsher in India over time. And the meaning of the...

-TheWire.in The finance ministry had said, "Market fee is not a tax and the concerned APMC provides facilities in mandis in exchange for the amount." New Delhi: Amid the raging protests against the disputed agrarian laws passed by the Centre, a far more widespread and deeper controversy has emerged over the taxes levied across state agricultural markets. Members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have been criticising the Agricultural Produce Market Committee tax...

-Outlook India A schoolteacher shot right through the eye, businessmen brothers disappeared, a jewellery shop looted of crores, even politicians murdered…Nitish is fast losing his USP. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar may have earned compliments for his administration’s zero-tolerance policy towards crime in his previous three terms—closing the insulting Jungle Raj repeat-phrase that defined the state before his rule. But his latest tenure has thrown up a big challenge on the law...