-Hindustan Times Ever since the goods and services tax (GST) was brought to force, there has been a 60% fall in the demand for plywood, owing to the tax rate of 28% on furniture goods. Situated on the outskirts of Ludhiana city in Hambran, is a small plywood manufacturing unit. Until last month, the manufacturing unit had a 110-strong workforce. But now the owner, Wazir Sood, has temporarily laid off 70 workers....

-The Hindu But in absolute terms, Hindus contributed maximum in 2014-15, thanks to larger population, according to National Sample Survey data Hindus donated a little over Rs. 15,600 crore as religious contribution in 2014-15 — six times the quantum donated by Muslims — but the per-household contribution of Muslims is marginally higher than that of Hindus, as they are enjoined by religion to give to charity. But the per-household religious contribution of Christians...

-The Hindu Business Line Notification issuedin May had put curbs on sale of cattlefor slaughter New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday, staying the Centre’s notification banning sale and purchase of cows and other livestock at animal markets for slaughter, was widely welcomed by farmers, with some seeing it as a ‘victory’. Terming the notification as a “cruel law”, the left-oriented All India Kisan Sabha said the impugned rules effectively choked the...

-The Hindu Leading hydrogeology scientist explains how India’s dependence on groundwater could lead to a crisis if left unchecked Mumbai: Groundwater is the world’s most extracted Raw material, supplying and sustaining a range of human activity. Yet, because it is invisible and it’s supply often taken for granted, it is often inadequately acknowledged in policy and debates about the preservation of groundwater commons and aquifers. At best, it is usually shrouded in...

-Macroscan.org India's livestock economy is among the biggest in the world. A ban on cow slaughter would either result in more and more unproductive animals being killed in most unscientific and cruel ways or would entail such a high cost for maintaining unproductive animals that cattle rearing would cease to be a profitable enterprise for farm households. Restrictions being imposed on cow slaughter and the actions of the cow vigilantes would...