-The Indian Express It is the rural middle class — which experienced a roughly four-decade spell of prosperity from the 1970s and now has its back to the wall — that’s at the forefront of the agitation against the farm reform laws. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended his government’s agricultural reform laws by invoking Chaudhary Charan Singh and pointing to the “Dayaniya sthiti (sorry plight)” of marginal farmers. These below-one-hectare cultivators...

-The Telegraph Weather scientists, however, said heavy snow had been neither forecast nor observed in Chamoli district on FriDay or SaturDay An avalanche triggered by snowfall — and not glacial ice sundering — was the likely cause of SunDay’s devastation in Uttarakhand, scientists said on MonDay using satellite imagery. Weather scientists, however, said heavy snow had been neither forecast nor observed in Chamoli district on FriDay or SaturDay. “A preliminary analysis suggests that heavy...

-The Hindu Business Line/ NetworkIdeas.org It defies all logic. As expected, once the implications of the Covid-19 contagion began to be absorbed, the BSE Sensex lost 37 per cent in value, falling from a level just above 41,000 on February 19, 2020, to just below 26,000 on 23 March 2000 (Chart 1). That was the Day when the nationwide lockdown was declared and three Days before the first of the government’s...

-The Indian Express The breach can be caused by several reasons — in this particular case, for instance, an avalanche was reported in the region two Days ago. Pune: A glacial lake burst, a cloud burst or an avalanche, the impact of climate change or “development” — scientists are not sure what triggered the sudden surge of water near Chamoli in Uttarakhand SunDay morning that briefly raised fears of a repeat of...

-The Indian Express The application is the result of years of painstaking research and documentation by a diverse team of clinical doctors, scientists, photographers and wildlife enthusiasts settled in different corners of the globe on a purely voluntary basis. Kochi: Did you know that the Malabar Pit Viper, a venomous snake found in evergreen, semi-evergreen hill forests and plantations in Kerala, can appear in almost 15 different colour morphs — from greenish...