-Newsclick.in Report from the nerve-centre of the massive farmers' movement in Sikar, Rajasthan, which has won the support of people from all sections of society. The Sikar district of Rajasthan has seen various Mass movements in different times in the past. But nothing like what is happening today. Unlike many other cases where the middle class starts complaining whenever there is a mass agitation, this farmers’ movement, with its eleven genuine...

-The Hindu The political scientist on the danger to India’s checks and balances, and the perils of the democratisation of mediocrity in universities Professor of political science and a holder of the Madan Lal Sobti Chair, Devesh Kapur has been director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary India at University of Pennsylvania since 2006. Mr. Kapur, who recently co-edited Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design, says our public universities...

-TheWire.in The Indian farmer is not just a poor, helpless victim who deserves a waiver because he cannot pay. The root cause of the debt trap is that his income has not increased with rising expenditure due to state policies. As Punjab joins the list of states to declare farm loan waivers, the political scales are now heavily tilted in favour of this idea. The government of Telangana, followed by Andhra Pradesh,...

-GovernanceNow.com As farmers protests take centre stage across the country, Swaraj Party convenor explains the ecological, economic and existential crisis behind this unrest. * We have recently seen farmers from Tamil Nadu protesting in the national capital. Then Maharashtra farmers protested, deciding not to send their produce to cities. The agitation has now reached Madhya Pradesh, leading to killings. Why there is sudden farmers’ unrest in the country? I think we...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In 2015, a high-powered panel appointed by the National Green Tribunal and headed by the then union water resources secretary Shashi Shekhar had recommended the ecological development of the Yamuna floodplain in such a manner as to prevent any further encroachments by builders. But with NGT yet to decide on implementing that report, constructions continue on either side of the river. NGT also asked for the...