-IANS Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Wednesday announced rewards to districts and villages across the state which curb the unhealthy practice of burning stubble (residue of harvested crops). "The Punjab government has announced an incentive for each district and village with a financial grant of Rs.1 crore and Rs.1 lakh respectively, which were free from the burning of stubble," a state government spokesman said here. "This decision has been taken to curb the...

-The Hindu Perceptions of public safety in India are not driven by urbanisation per se; rather, these are likely driven by the infrastructure and amenities associated with the largest cities in India One of the most important functions of a modern state is to provide for basic law and order. Indeed, this idea emerges from some of the early foundational tracts on state authority, especially the work of sociologist Max Weber, who...

-The Financial Express   Prime minister Narendra Modi has done well to launch a soil health card scheme, from Suratgarh in Rajasthan, which is slated to cover 14 crore farmers in the next three years. Soil health cards are an important component of agriculture reform since they help impress upon the farmer the damage done to the soil by excess use of the heavily-subsidised urea in comparison with other fertilisers. While the...

-Frontline A critique of the report of the high-level committee on restructuring the FCI and reviewing its role by TK Rajalakshmi SOON after assuming power at the Centre, Narendra Modi's National Democratic Alliance government set up a high-level committee on re-structuring the Food Corporation of India that was mandated to make the food management system more efficient. It was headed by Shanta Kumar, former Union Minister for Rural Development and former Chief...

-The Hindu Shanta Kumar panel favoured a drastic cut in beneficiaries The Narendra Modi government is not in a hurry to accept the controversial recommendation of the Shanta Kumar panel to cut the public distribution system beneficiaries for subsidised foodgrains to 40 from 67 per cent under the National Food Security Act, highly placed government sources have indicated to The Hindu. With several crucial Assembly elections in the offing this and the next...