-TheWire.in No rice for villages till MLA, commune commissioner certify them to be clean, said original order by the Puducherry L-G. New Delhi: Puducherry lieutenant-governor Kiran Bedi’s snap decision to stop the distribution of free rice to the poor in villages that have not become open defecation-free and continue to have garbage and plastic strewn around may have been an attempt to incentivise hygienic practices. But it did not go down well...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Traffic jams, parking problems, app-based cabs, online shopping and fast-spreading metro networks have resulted in car sales starting to fall in big cities, something many hoped for but few expected to become a reality. City-specific numbers accessed by TOI from industry sources show car sales dropped 20 per cent in Mumbai in 2017-18—97,274 cars sold during the year versus 1.22 lakh in the previous year. Bangalore,...

-Down to Earth This new development will benefit the scheduled tribes residing in Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister on Wednesday (April 25) approved the declaration of 227 villages in three districts of Rajasthan as Schedule Areas. The declaration of Scheduled Areas under Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India was done by rescinding the Constitution Order 114 of February 12, 1981 and promulgating a new Constitution...

-Livemint.com For the first time during the tenure of the present government, overall inflation of food articles is negative, implying a decline in prices Last week the India Meteorological Department (IMD) presented its first forecast for the monsoon this year. The forecast at 97% of the long period average (LPA) suggested yet a third year of normal monsoon rains, following 2016 and 2017. This should have ideally brought cheer to farmers struggling...

-The Indian Express Curbing stubble burning is about inducing behavioural changes in farmers. Given that crop residue burning has an environmental footprint and poses health hazards, one needs to be cautious while evaluating the Centre’s policy to mitigate the crisis. But there is also an urgent need for such an evaluation. The Centre has allocated Rs 1,050 crore to the states where crop residue burning poses a pollution hazard. The Union Ministry...