-Newsclick.in Unemployment has inched up to over 9% as the year ends and the so-called economic recovery is a mirage. For Indians, 2020 will go down in history as the worst year for livelihoods and incomes. Unemployment levels rose to record highs, incomes plummeted to record lows and such was the scale of deprivation that thousands of families teetered on the brink of starvation. Tragically, this was not just the pandemic. It...

-Article-14.com Uttar Pradesh uses the National Security Act against cow-slaughter suspects. In Gujarat, killing a cow attracts life imprisonment. In recent times, a constitutional reference to agriculture and animal husbandry—from which these laws flow—manifests itself mostly in violence against Muslims. Exclusive extract from a new book The chronology of the various pieces of state legislation shows that cow protection laws have become harsher in India over time. And the meaning of the...

-NDTV "UP is blithely undermining that very Constitution..." the letter's signatories said, pointing to high court rulings that said choosing a life partner was a "fundamental right" New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government's controversial anti-conversion ordinance has transformed the state into "the epicentre of politics of hate, division and bigotry", a letter signed by 104 former IAS officers, including former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and former...

-The Indian Express The incident assumes significance since it touches upon two critical aspects of The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 — registration of traders in private markets and dispute resolution. Bhopal: Citing the newly enacted farm laws, Khoja Traders, a trader firm in Dewas owned by brothers Pavan Khoja and Suresh Khoja, duped 22 farmers in Harda district of their 2,581 quintals of lentil and gram...

-The Indian Express The Centre is within its rights to enact laws promoting barrier-free trade of farm produce (inter- as well as intra-state) and also dismantling stockholding restrictions. But that can be only after the farmer has sold. In November 2019, the Fifteenth Finance Commission submitted its interim report, wherein it proposed special “performance based incentives” to states that carried out agriculture sector reforms. These reforms specifically pertained to their enacting and implementing...