-Newsclick.in Just 15% of wheat and 32% of rice was procured by the government at MSP rates. The rest was sold below MSP to traders. Uttar Pradesh (UP) produced 58.32 million tonnes of food grains in 2020-21, the highest among all states. It was nearly 19% or one-fifth of the country's production. Foodgrains include wheat and rice, the two major crops, and various coarse cereals and pulses. UP was the country’s leading...

-The Telegraph The percentage of vacant seats across 24 districts in Jharkhand is very high and the situation being worse in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Seraikela-Kharsawan: Banna Jamshedpur: Crusaders of Right to Education campaign have approached state education minister Jagarnath Mahato about the alleged violation of RTE Act provisions by unaided private schools and to ensure their complete implementation in the next academic session (2022-23). “Recent surveys in Jharkhand have presented some troubling ground...

-The Telegraph The FSSAI had set a Feb 5 deadline for public feedback on its proposed regulations that outline procedures through which GM foods can be imported in the country A citizen petitioner has through a legal notice asked India’s food authority to withdraw its draft rules on genetically modified foods, saying its proposals would breach environmental regulations and dilute food labelling requirements directed by the Supreme Court. The notice, sent on Friday...

-Newsclick.in Major budgetary allocation cuts in crucial schemes for women, children and vulnerable SECtions are indicative of the government’s lopsided priorities. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget has helped reinforce one home truth -- that India is divided into the salaried SECtion and a vast underbelly, including the middle class who have been edged into poverty due to job losses suffered during the COVID pandemic. Coming out of the pandemic’s ‘third wave’, issues of...

-TheWire.in A bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna said that state governments cannot say that fraudulent claims are being made by families of COVID-19 victims. New Delhi: The Supreme Court highlighted that official statistics on COVID-19 deaths, released by states, were “not true” and directed state governments to pay compensation to relatives of deceased people who have applied without rejecting the claims on technical grounds. “Official statistics are not true on...