-The Indian Express Whichever party comes to power at the Centre, India is making a policy shift to direct income support. The festival of democracy started with the FIRst phase of polling on April 11. Ideally, it should be celebrated like Holi, forgetting past enmity and embracing each other with love. But, unfortunately, it is being fought like the battle of Kurukshetra in the epic, Mahabharata. All the weapons of politics...

-The Telegraph Some clauses of the draft of the Indian Forest Act 2019 are extraordinarily undemocratic Forests are considered planetary resources of great importance: as carbon sinks, as repositories for biodiversity, as effective tools for local climate control, and as a source of timber and related produce. Forests have been dwelling places for people, too. It is important from the point of view of sustainable development that forests be preserved and biodiversity...

-Newsclick.in In an interview, the ‘father’ of India’s Green Revolution, says while technology is necessary, policies on procurement and public distribution are far more important in making agriculture economically viable and sustainable in the country. No one has played a more instrumental role in India’s self-sufficiency in food production than Dr MS Swaminathan — world-renowned agricultural scientist, known as the ‘Father of Green Revolution in India’. After getting a PhD from Cambridge...

-The Indian Express Whichever party wins the election, the real long-term challenge is to stem the rot of institutional foundations. The headlines say that the ruling party manifesto emphasises nationalism (“nation FIRst”), and, on the economic front, it will aspire to make India the third-largest economy in the world by the end of the next decade, to make it reach the list of top 50 countries in the ranking of Ease...

-Hindustan Times According to locals, around 100 cases of dengue were reported from the village last year. However, in the absence of any government hospital and medical dispensary, the residents struggled. In 2017, Kadipur in north Delhi, adopted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from North-East Delhi Manoj Tiwari, had hit the headlines after it became the FIRst village in the capital to get “free wi-fi”. However, it is still struggling to...