-Press release by Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) dated 30 July, 2021 NEW DELHI: “During 2020 at least 228 journalists (including two cases against media houses) were targeted. These included 12 female journalists who had faced physical violence, online harassment/ threats and cases including under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) of 1967”, stated Mr Suhas Chakma, Director of the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) while releasing India...

Media reports indicate that at the start of the southwest monsoon season, lightning strikes caused the death of over 70 people in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on a single day i.e. 11th July, 2021. Prior to those separate events related to human casualty caused by thunderbolts, eighteen elephants were found dead on a hilltop at Kandali Proposed Reserve Forest situated in Assam's Nagaon district on...

-Scroll.in In a world of powerful spying tools, Indian democracy urgently needs checks on intelligence gathering. With allegations that opposition leaders, Union ministers, bureaucrats, an election commissioner and even a Supreme Court judge could have been spied on, the Pegasus spyware scandal points to one of the most egregious misuses of power in India’s history. The Israeli manufacturer of Pegasus insists that it only sells its weapons-grade spyware to governments, prompting allegations that...

-Down to Earth Aggressive sugarcane farming contaminates land, water The Union government intends to increase the amount of ethanol in the energy mix to lower the country’s dependence on imported oil and carbon footprint, as well as stabilise petrol prices.  India currently blends about 8.5 per cent ethanol in petrol. The government is targeting a 10 per cent ethanol blend by 2022 and a 20 per cent blend (E20) by 2025. E20 can save...

-Scroll.in The News Broadcasting Standards Authority held the news outlets guilty of violating journalistic norms in their coverage of the religious group. The orders last month by the News Broadcasting Standards Authority holding three private news channels guilty of violating journalistic norms in their coverage of the Tablighi Jamaat Covid-19 cluster is a welcome move, even if long overdue. The orders against News18 Kannada, Suvarna News and Times Now are an indication...