-The Indian Express The Prime Minister’s Office, which manages the fund, has declined to furnish details of contributions received, saying that PM CarES is “not a public authority under the...RTI Act”. IT’S NOT just a wide range of central educational institutions, at least seven public sector banks, seven other leading financial institutions and insurers, and the RBI, have together contributed Rs 204.75 crore from their staff salaries to the Prime Minister’s Citizen...

-The Indian Express The fight to retain the APMC despite its shortcomings is also a fight to extract a commitment from the government on maintaining state support to the agricultural sector. On Friday, September 25, farmers’ organisations across the country gave a call for a bandh to protest the three bills passed by Parliament. These bills, namely the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 (FPTC), the Farmers (Empowerment...

-CounterCurrents.org “The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Saturday that it has busted an al Qaeda module and arrested nine people who were allegedly planning to Carry out major terror strikes in India at the direction of their Pakistan-based handler.” The news hit headlines of all major dailies in India last week. Six of these suspects were apprehended from the district of Murshidabad in West Bengal and three others were arrested from...

-The Hindu The APMC Bypass Bill leaves too much to the benevolence of private players Three farm bills — the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill (commonly referred to as the APMC Bypass Bill), and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill — were cleared by Parliament amid protests from the Opposition. Sudha Narayanan (Associate Professor at the...

-CaravanMagazine.in On 20 September, the Rajya Sabha passed two contentious bills related to the farm sector— the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill. On 22 September, it passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. The Lok Sabha had earlier passed these bills amid stiff opposition from farmers. The bills introduce changes in the way agricultural...