-The Hindu Two separate decisions on farm loan waivers could have a domino effect Chairing his first cabinet meeting after taking over the reins in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath approved a write-off on outstanding farmer loans of up to Rs. 1 lakh taken before March 31, 2016. The State cabinet also decided to waive loans worth Rs. 6,000 crore extended to small and marginal farmers that had turned into non-performing...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi today asked the BJP "not to play politics with farmers" by waiving loans in Uttar Pradesh alone as agrarian distress was a national crisis and the Centre should come up with a "national" response. Although Rahul described the Uttar Pradesh government's decision as a "step in the right direction", he alleged inaction by the Narendra Modi government by tweeting: "I am happy the BJP has finally...

-The Hindu It also suggested that the Centre come forward to extend financial help to Tamil Nadu “during this difficult situation”. Chennai: Asserting that there is no rationale behind the classification of farmers into three groups for the purpose of granting farm loan waiver, and that there is no intelligible differentia taken note of by the State government, a Division Bench of the Madras High Court headed by Justice S. Nagamuthu has...

-The Hindu The UP govt will also settle around Rs. 6,000 crore of NPAs of 7 lakh small and marginalised farmers. Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, at its first Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, announced its decision to waive farmers’ loans worth Rs. 30,729 crore, writing off all farm loans up to Rs. 1 lakh. The government will also settle around Rs. 6,000 crore of NPAs of seven lakh...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A clutch of legal amendments the Narendra Modi government has introduced to allow corporate political donors to mask their contributions drags the world's largest democracy against global currents of rising transparency in electoral funding, analysts and activists have warned. From Brazil to Bangladesh, and Croatia to Cyprus, countries of diverse sizes and varied histories with democracy have over the past decade adopted laws and rules aimed at making...