-The Telegraph New Delhi: A wave of rare consensus swept most of the national landscape today as the Supreme Court declared the instant triple talaq unconstitutional and outlawed it by a 3:2 majority verdict. While Justices Kurian Joseph, R.F. Nariman and U.U. Lalit ruled the practice "manifestly arbitrary" and against "public order and morality", Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer differed in their minority view. The minority view...

-The Indian Express Advancing rights of women farmers can revolutionise the rural ecosystem The stereotypical image of an Indian farmer is a mustachioed man, clad in a white dhoti with farming tools in hand. The reality is the Indian agricultural landscape is fast being feminised. Already, women constitute close to 65 per cent of all agricultural workers. An even greater share, 74 per cent of the rural workforce, is female. Despite their...

-Scroll.in Gadchiroli has recognised community forest rights in 66% of eligible land, compared to the state’s figure of 15%. Ten years after the Centre passed a law granting Adivasis and other forest dwellers rights to manage resources in forest lands, Maharashtra has emerged as the front-runner among states in implementing the provisions of this legislation, followed closely by Kerala. A new report by Community Forest Rights Learning and Advocacy – a collective...

-The Hindu Business Line The Government must clear policy bottlenecks for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to meet its ambitious target Amidst the government’s celebrations on completing three years in office, one flagship scheme remains a massive — and challenging — opportunity: Housing for all by 2022. The groundbreaking, affordable housing initiative backing this promise, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), plans to provide homes to 18 million households in urban India...

-The Hindu Business Line 1.5 times the defence budget may be needed for unproductive animals: Economist Rawal New Delhi: The ban on cow slaughter can pose a serious threat to the Indian economy in the near future, as the country may have to spend 1.5 times its current Defence Budget to take care of an additional 27 crore unproductive animals annually, an agricultural economist has warned. Speaking at a function organised by Bhumi Adhikar Andolan, a...