-Hindustan Times The recent crackdown on meat shops in Uttar Pradesh offers a peek into the ethical divide that exists between vegetarians and non-vegetarians in India. The increase in meat consumption, intensive animal farming and growing cruelty against animals has given rise to compassion movements across the world. It should be a matter of pride therefore that India is among the most-vegetarian countries in the world. But how does meat become a...

-Scroll.in The Forest Rights Act recognises the rights of forest dwelling communities and entrusts them with the responsibility for conservation. The residents of Gunehar village in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district are attempting to use the Forest Rights Act to challenge the state Forest Department’s decision to hand over two hectares of local forest land to the Wildlife Department to construct an office complex. At the end of December, the Gunehar panchayat...

-Scroll.in India’s first chief statistician, Pronab Sen, is now country director of the International Growth Centre, which seeks to build effective growth facilities through engagement between policymakers and researchers. In this interview to Scroll.in, he speaks on the 50 days of demonetisation, its failings, its severe impact on the poor, the loss of credibility of the Reserve Bank of India, the push to make India a cashless or less-cash economy, and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government has given out cooking gas connections free of cost to 1.5 crore poor households under the 'Ujjwala' scheme, achieving the target set for the 2016-17 financial year in eight months on the back of a massive outreach in rural areas. The scheme was launched on May 1 by PM Narendra Modi at a rally in UP's Ballia district. The scheme envisages providing LPG connection...

-Down to Earth Modi government’s attempt at rationalising prices of forest products is likely to hit Adivasi farmers the most At the time when there has been demand for increasing the minimum support prices for various agricultural products, the NDA government has gone ahead and slashed the prices of forest produce on which livelihoods of several forest-dwelling tribes depend. Stating the need to rationalise the minimum support price (MSP) as they...