-Newsclick.in The draft notification pushed during the lockdown, in more ways than one, tries to minimise public participation in determining impacts of any particular industrial project on livelihoods and environment. New Delhi: In what could spell catastrophe for the lives and livelihoods of millions of citizens across the country, the Central government has sought to introduce new rules whereby environmental clearances can be granted to industrial projects on a post facto basis....

-Newsclick.in ‘It is upon the Department of Food & Public Distribution to give the green signal to the FCI for releasing approximately two million tons of rice which has been earmarked for producing ethanol…’ a senior official from the petroleum ministry told NewsClick. New Delhi: Not only has the Central Government’s decision to use surplus rice stocks in the country for producing ethanol, been criticised for being done at a time when...

-The Indian Express A month ago, on March 24, when the Centre announced the first phase of the lockdown, states were left to manage its sudden consequences such as the massive disruption in supply chain, and migrant labour walking hundreds of miles to their homes. Late Friday night, as the Centre issued orders allowing shops and markets in rural areas and stand-alone shops in urban areas to open for sale of even...

-Committee to Protect Journalists On March 26, two days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a national lockdown to control the spreading of COVID-19, Hindi-language daily Jansandesh Times reported that a tribe in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh state, didn’t have enough to eat due to the sudden announcement and that children were eating grass. The same day, the magistrate of Varanasi district, Kaushal Raj Sharma, sent a legal notice to the...

-Livemint.com Document-driven processes such as the proposed National Register of Citizens are likely to place the heaviest burden on Adivasis and Muslims Among the many conceits of the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens is this: that only “illegal immigrants" need fear not having the proper documentation. News reporting from Assam has exposed repeatedly that this is not necessarily the case, with women and the poor bearing the brunt of the National...