-The Hindu Business Line Not very, going by IMD gauge in Badnapur; insurers depend on Skymet AWS If you imagine a rain observatory as a centre with scientific equipment and team of researchers monitoring data, you are mistaken. The writer visited a rain observatory in Badnapur town of Jalna district in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad division. This was in the terrace of the Gram Panchayat Office. The writer was taken aback by what she saw there:...

-The Telegraph Peasants' body is demanding right price for agriculture produce, pension and prestige for farmers Bhubaneswar: The day Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan, the state’s largest peasants’ body, gave the call for a 12-hour Odisha bandh on Thursday demanding right price for agriculture produce, pension and prestige for farmers, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath lashed out at his Odisha counterpart for deliberately not implementing the PM-KISAN Yojana. While the BJP, Congress and...

-The Hindu Opposition parties must make a new anti-torture legislation part of their common programme Custodial torture is global, old and stubborn. Dismemberment was a method of torture practised with vigour in ancient India, crushing-by-elephant-foot another. The Arthashastra prescribes mental torture through swear-words with or without physical assaults. Death by a thousand cuts was ancient China’s speciality. The Tang Code (652 CE) describes judicial torture in detail. Ancient Japanese methods of torture...

-The Hindu Business Line Not satisfied with CM Fadnavis’ promises, ryots to renew protest, walk from Nashik to Mumbai starting tomorrow Over one lakh farmers across Maharashtra would march from Nashik to Mumbai from Wednesday in a repeat of their much-talked-about ‘Long March’ last year as the talks between farmer leaders and state government officials remained inconclusive on Sunday. The farmers, who would cover nearly 165 kilometres over eight days to reach Mumbai...

-The Hindu Proposals will impact Central Budget and those presented by States for 2020-21, says N.K. Singh The 15th Finance Commission will not alter its approach on solely using the 2011 Census for population figures in its calculations for allocations to States, Chairman N.K. Singh said in an interview. However, he added that other MEAsures would be included that would ensure that States that have performed well by controlling population growth would not...