-The Hindu Plea against nod for felling of trees New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has held that Aravallis in Faridabad district will be considered as deemed forest. The NGT was hearing a plea against the Haryana government permitting felling of more than 7,000 trees for a group housing project, to be undertaken by Bharti Land LIMited. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “It is difficult to uphold...

-The Economic Times The IBC’s ‘fresh start’ process provides a systematic manner of waiving debts overseen by a judicial body. Historically, farm loan waivers have been used as a quick-fix solution to agrarian distress in India. Commonly used by political parties before elections, they have a long history at both central & state levels. However, the efficiency of waivers in actually resolving the debt burden of farmers is questionable. Waivers may work as...

-Livemint.com In conversation with Guy Standing, economist at the School Of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Neither the Narendra Modi government nor Rahul Gandhi have gotten minimum income scheme right, he says New Delhi: Income support is the big economic idea of the season. While the ruling BJP government announced a LIMited money transfer scheme targeted at farmers in the recent interim budget, the Congress has proposed to solve the country’s...

-The Indian Express There are substantial inequalities even within Dalits. In addition to the 15 per cent quota, the community should also have reservation based on socioeconomic criteria. Reservations are sometimes criticised in a constructive manner by analysts who argue that quotas are cornered by a few jatis at the expense of those who “really need them”. Among Dalits, the Jatavs of Uttar Pradesh and the Mahars of Maharashtra have been...

-The Indian Express As the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet-train project gets clearance to run through the Thane creek, environmentalists and birders aren’t too happy. The Flamingo yoga pose (the forward stretch of the torso while balancing on one leg) might have given you sore muscles, but tear away from the pain and you can enjoy watching the yoga pose’s inspiration flocking on Mumbai’s wetlands and creeks in their signature pose, feeding and mating....