-Outlook India According to the Hisar-based Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC), the area in which stubble was burnt in 2016 was more than what it was in the previous two years and the same as 2013 Chandigarh: Stubble in over two lakh hectares of land was burnt last year in Haryana despite the state government cracking the whip on farmers who defied orders restricting the practice. Crop-residue burning had led to air pollution...

-The Hindu Disappointed by the government’s track record in implementing anti-corruption measures, a group of eminent citizens has decided to take the initiative of setting up a forum to hear complaints of corruption or malfeasance from whistleblowers. Called the Citizens Whistleblowers Forum (CWF), it would “act as a unique, credible platform to provide much-needed confidence to whistleblowers” to expose, without fear, “cases of corruption or wilful misuse of powers”, said a statement...

-PTI New Delhi: “Not a single drop of river Ganga has been cleaned so far,” the National Green Tribunal on Monday observed, rapping the government agencies for “only wasting public money” in the name of the cleaning project. The tribunal asked the government agencies about how they were executing the Prime Minister’s ambitious ‘Namami Gange project’ and said it does not want the “drama” regarding complaints between the Centre and Uttar Pradesh...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Government is conducting a study to ascertain agrarian distress in major farmer suicide-hit states, Parliament was informed today. The data on number of farmer suicides during 2016 has not yet been compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The most recent NCRB data showed number of farmer suicides to be 12,602 in 2015, with maximum reported in Maharashtra (4,291), followed by Karnataka. "Taking cognisance of the problem of agrarian...

-The Hindu The HRD Ministry official was responding to the Cabinet Secretariat’s directive in November. The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has expressed concern over the Centre’s push to link the Aadhaar number with subsidy schemes related to school education. In a recent inter-ministerial meeting, the Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), under the HRD Ministry, said the decision to use the Aadhaar number as an identification document for receiving benefits under...