The Status of Policing Report in India 2023 (SPIR) was released on 31 March in New Delhi by Common Cause and Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. SPIR 2023 study explores public opinions and experiences regarding digital surveillance in India. Recent developments, such as the Supreme Court's recognition of the right to privacy and discussions surrounding data protection, have intensified debates around privacy and surveillance. The study also considers...

Livemint Wheat prices have started climbing again despite the government launching open market operations to reain in prices of the crucial commodity due to the unseasonal rains in key what-producing states. Wheat prices had shot up by 15% in 2022 accoding to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, even before the OMOs. This comes as retail inflation continues to hover above the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance level,...

Reuters Unseasonal rains and hailstorms have damaged ripening, winter-planted crops such as wheat in India's fertile northern, central and western plains, exposing thousands of farmers to losses and raising the risk of further food price inflation. Torrential rains on Sunday and Monday lashed Punjab, Haryana parts of Uttar pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh state, which account for the bulk of wheat output in India, the world's biggest producer after China, flattening crops and...

Factchecker.in On March 6, 2023, Uttar pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath claimed that no farmer had died by suicide in the last six years. But, 398 farmers and 731 farm labourers died by suicide between 2017 and 2021 in the state, official data show. “Sugarcane farmers in Uttar pradesh were forced to burn their crops and attempt suicide but in the last six years, no farmer in Uttar pradesh has died by...

Newsclick There is an acute shortage of teachers in government-run primary, upper primary and composite schools in Uttar pradesh, despite the guidelines on the teacher-to-student ratio issued under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) of 2009. The new academic session of Uttar pradesh Basic Education Board schools is about to begin next month (April 1) but about 51,000 posts of assistant teachers are lying vacant in the...