-The Hindu Business Line Mumbai: The World Bank will fund a Maharashtra government project for reclaiming saline lands, spread over 5 lakh hectares affecting 1,000 villages in the State. A significant percentage of the lands are in the farmer’s suicide-prone Vidarbha region. The project is a part of the larger umbrella project called Climate Resistant Agriculture, which will receive ?4,000 crore joint funding from the Bank and Maharashtra government. The World Bank will provide...

-TheWire.in Out of the 144 recorded farmer suicides, over 40 were from outside the Cauvery delta region. Observers and farmers directly attribute demonetisation as one major factor behind the suicides. Tamil Nadu is facing one of its worst agrarian crises since independence. All of the state’s 32 districts have been officially declared as ‘drought-affected’.  In a statement issued on January 10, chief minister O. Panneerselvam announced that the move was necessitated following...

-The Indian Express Governments are making Aadhaar mandatory in contravention of court orders One reason for the controversy surrounding the Aadhaar project is the pending litigation against it in the Supreme Court. The cases draw on substantive critiques, including exclusion and deprivation caused by the usage of Aadhaar in provisioning essential services such as the PDS and MGNREGA, breaches of individual privacy and threats to national and individual security in the way...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court told the Centre on Thursday that it must file its response in four weeks to a PIL by NGO 'Common Cause' seeking permission for private FM radio stations and community radio services to broadcast news. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan told a bench of Justice T S Thakur and Justice D Y Chandrachud that the government on one hand permitted private...

-Down to Earth With the state assembly election around the corner, the model code of conduct is the favourite excuse for non implementation of FRA In Uttarakhand—a land mired with reports of foRest fires and rampant defoRestation despite having 64 per cent foRest area—the government is yet to start the implementation of the FoRest Rights Act of 2006. According to the latest status report released in December 2016, not a single...