-The Indian Express A cabinet meeting chaired by CM Chouhan endorsed an ordinance to control non-biodegradable waste to enable the ban on polythene carry bags. Bhopal: More than three years after the National Green Tribunal recommended a ban on polythene to protect the environment, the Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday announced a complete ban on polythene carry bags from May 1. The BJP government, however, cited cow deaths as one of the...

-The Indian Express UP’s farm loan waiver could prompt other states to follow suit, evade real reasons for agricultural distress The new Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, has hit the ground running. In his first cabinet meeting, he took three important decisions with regard to farmers. First, he waived farm loans of more than Rs 36,000 crore, primarily of the small and marginal farmers who comprise 92 per cent of the...

-Business Standard Not only is your privacy stripped stark naked, the system itself is illegal and vulnerable Indians have serious red tape PTSD. We live with chronic anxiety about the documents that get us the entitlements and paid services we need — food, cooking gas, SIM cards, sale deeds, passports and so on. We’re so tyrannised by bureaucracy that when we hear of an official document that might simplify life, we fall...

-The Indian Express States with the largest non-vegetarian populations are mostly ruled by non-BJP parties; those with the largest numbers of vegetarians, mostly by the BJP Eight of India’s top 10 major states ranked by their preference for vegetarianism are now BJP-ruled. And 8 of the top 10 major states ranked by their preference for non-vegetarian food are ruled by non-BJP parties, according to data from the Census of India’s Sample Registration...

-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...