-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In 2015, a high-powered panel appointed by the National Green Tribunal and headed by the then union water resources secretary Shashi Shekhar had recommended the ecological development of the Yamuna floodplain in such a manner as to prevent any further encroachments by builders. But with NGT yet to decide on implementing that report, constructions continue on either side of the river. NGT also asked for the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI:To achieve the country's population control target faster, the government has decided to accelerate family planning measures by identifying 146 districts where the total fertility rate (TFR, the number of children born per woman) is more than three and which add up to 28% of the population. The health ministry is set to roll out "Mission Parivar Vikas" in these districts to improve access to family planning...

-NDTV Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian says farmers would not only lose the income from livestock as meat but also have to incur additional costs to maintain unproductive cattle. Already, he adds, there was research to suggest that returns to livestock farming are in any case "very low or even negative". NEW DELHI:  Arvind Subramanian, the government's Chief Economic Adviser, has broken his silence on the issue of cattle slaughter. And...

-Livemint.com Farm loan waivers have been announced in Maharashtra and promised by PM Narendra Modi in Uttar Pradesh, then why should Haryana, another BJP state, be left behind, questions a farmer Kurukshetra/ New Delhi: Next to a sprawling mango orchard, a four-hour drive from the capital, birds peck on worms emerging from rotting potatoes heaped by the wayside. The shade of giant mango trees offers relief from the heat of this hot...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A group of retired bureaucrats have written an open letter ruing the "rising authoritarianism and majoritarianism" that is choking dissent, and urging public authorities to take "corrective action" to "reclaim and defend the spirit of the Constitution". "Argumentation and discussion about different perspectives - the lifeblood not only of institutions of learning but of democracy itself -are being throttled," the letter says. "Disagreement and dissent are considered seditious...