-The Hindu India’s leaders must recommit themselves to the ideas and activism of environmentalists involved with Uttarakhand Following flash floods at Chamoli in Uttarakhand, defence personnel are looking for missing persons in a mélange of rock, mud, water, and debris, airlifting rations to inaccessible villages, and repairing bridges and telecommunication networks. Social scientists are assessing the disaster’s impact on the region’s economy. Scientists and policy makers are debating whether climate change or...

-The Hindu Despite official policy, OBC, SC and ST applicants less likely to gain admission as compared to those from General Categories Chennai: Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe applicants are half as likely to get selected for a Ph.D. programme at leading IITs in the country as aspirants from the General Category (GC) are. data collated from a series of RTI applications, including from The Hindu, on the number of applicants versus the...

-The Telegraph The committee said, “The absence of reliable and authentic data/information on the numbers of migrant workforce and their movement back to their home States following the outbreak of the Pandemic has apparently impacted the relief and rehabilitation measures.” Commending the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a parliamentary standing committee has said that there is no “better scheme” to provide “sustainable livelihood” to unskilled workers. The Standing Committee on Labour, headed by...

-Down to Earth In 2019, India imported around 15 million tons of edible oils worth approximately Rs 7,300 crore Edible oils are indispensable in the Indian kitchen. But it might be surprising to many that India imports most of the oil it consumes, unlike most other agricultural products which are produced locally. Even after having a diverse agro-climatic conditions, abundant land and large sections of population depending on agriculture, why does India have...

-Down to Earth Rs 2,326.88 crore of Rs 139,370.15 crore was disbursed to those ineligible for the scheme; Rs 231.76 crore has been recovered The Union government was yet to spend Rs 23,727 crore of the Rs 139,370.15 crore it has allocated for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) since its inception in February 2019. The amount is around 17 per cent of what was to be disbursed under the direct benefit transfer...