A recent report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) brings forth the dichotomy between digital divide and India’s transition towards a cashless economy. The rural-urban divide in access to computer and internet is quite stark, according to the report entitled 'Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on Education in India, July 2017 to June 2018'.   The 75th round National Sample Survey (NSS) report on education finds that...

-The New Indian Express Locusts also known as 'tiddi dal' is a group of short-horned grasshoppers which multiplies during migration from long distances in destructive swarms and devours the vegetation wherever it settles. CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has issued an alert of a locust attack in all the districts bordering Rajasthan. As it is apprehended that the swarm of locust may come towards the state after they have devoured wheat crop over...

-The Indian Express In Odisha, procurement of paddy during the ongoing 2019-20 Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) is, for the first time, being done from registered farmers only after Aadhaar-based biometric authentication. FIRST IT was fertilisers, where the NDA government made disbursal of subsidy conditional upon actual sales to farmers getting registered on PoS (Point of Sale) machines in retail outlets. That reform measure — to ensure that the benefit of minimum support...

-The Indian Express The chief ministers of five Opposition-ruled states — West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Punjab’s Amarinder Singh, Rajasthan’s Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh’s Bhupesh Baghel and Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan — have already opposed both the CAB and NRC. Bhubaneswar, New Delhi: A WEEK after his MPs voted for the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday opposed a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC), swelling the number of chief ministers...

-The Indian Express The newly passed amendment to the Citizenship Act redefines the way migrants from three countries can become Indian citizens, linking this to their religion. What are the concerns about it nationwide, and why has it faced such fierce resistance in Assam? How does it relate to government’s plans for an all-India NRC? The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) became law after receiving the President’s assent on Thursday, following a bruising...