-Newsclick.in These laws denude federalism and attempt to turn a nation of farmers into an agricultural market led by big business. In 2018, the Aadhaar Act was passed as a money bill, which a dissenting judgement of the Supreme Court described as a “fraud on the Constitution”. A presidential notification amended Art. 370 of the Constitution by giving an anti-democratic interpretation to Art. 367. The Citizenship Amendment Act was brought in under...

-Hindustan Times The Democracy Index referred to the changes in Jammu and Kashmir and the controversial implementation of the (NRC) in Assam. India dropped 10 places in the Democracy Index’s global ranking to 51st place, with the survey describing the erosion of civil liberties in the country as the primary cause of the democratic regression. The Democracy Index - prepared by Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of The Economist Group...

-News18.com Acclaimed journalist and Founder-Editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India, P Sainath attributes the existential crisis confronting India’s agrarian society to macro-economic policies set in motion 25 years ago. Talking to Anuradha SenGupta, Sainath makes a case for state intervention in agriculture and says the Modi government, with its shifting positions and policies like demonetisation has only aggravated the assault on agrarian livelihoods. Dismissing the buzz about imminent new initiatives...

-The Hindu Business Line The Narendra Modi government is committed to the welfare of farmers. As a result of this there has been a qualitative improvement in their lives. Taking a step in this direction, the government has transformed the targets meant for the implementation of farmers’ welfare schemes in a mission mode and time-bound manner. The government has been successful in bringing about awareness amongst farmers through new initiatives taken for...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The Income-tax Act is intricate — sometimes income received by an individual even if it relates to employment, does not fit within the technical definitions of 'salary' or 'profits received in lieu of salary'. Thus, very often, such income could not be taxed. Budget 2018-19 proposes to change this scenario. A wide range of income received — say non-compete payments (which sometimes did not fit the above...