-TheWire.in From seeds and machinery to livestock and irrigation, the state needs to change the status quo. One eye must be firmly kept on the future. If Punjab’s agriculture sector is to succeed, it has to think beyond short-term crises such as the current pandemic-induced one. For instance, the Expert Group headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia has made important recommendations about seeds, agricultural research, livestock, dairy and food processing. It has been noted that...

-The Hindu ‘Centre should borrow loan and pay dues instead of asking States to do so citing fall in collections’ Hyderabad: Six State governments, including Telangana, on Monday bounced back the Centre’s offer made to them to borrow loan and meet their GST compensation in view of shortfall in collections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At a video conference of Finance Ministers, Telangana apart, West Bengal, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Punjab governments, arrived...

ActionAid Association's (AAA) national level survey among people dependent on the informal economy during the third phase of the national lockdown towards the end of May 2020 (i.e. between May 14th and May 22nd, 2020) has documented the "nature and extent of the transitions in the lives and livelihoods of informal workers, including migrant workers, during the pandemic and provide[s] an insight into the precarity they experience and the coping...

-The Hindu Business Line Rains may return to South by early September The Central Water Commission (CWC) has said that major rivers flowed in severe flood situation on Saturday at 33 stations across Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Telangana and one each in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal on account of enhanced monsoon conditions generated by successive low-pressure areas from the Bay of Bengal. The South Peninsula has not witnessed...

-TheWire.in A report in the Wall Street Journal, quoting unnamed current and former FB officials, alleges a top Facebook India official opposed taking down hate speech posts by a BJP MLA over worries it would damage the company's business prospects in India. New Delhi: A top Facebook official in India was opposed to applying the social media platform’s hate speech rules to at least one Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician and other...