-The Telegraph New Delhi: A group of retired bureaucrats have written an open letter ruing the "rising authoritarianism and majoritarianism" that is choking dissent, and urging public authorities to take "corrective action" to "reclaim and defend the spirit of the Constitution". "Argumentation and discussion about different perspectives - the lifeblood not only of institutions of learning but of democracy itself -are being throttled," the letter says. "Disagreement and dissent are considered seditious...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The government's ban on cattle and buffalo sales for slaughter in animal markets will hurt not just meat sellers but also farmers across communities and could spark a milk shortage, meat dealers today said. "This is a very impractical move. It is totally anti-farmer," said Yusuf Quraishi, president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the All India Jamiat-ul-Quraish. Most of those engaged in slaughtering animals are Muslims from...

-The Indian Express The batch of PILs has sought directions to various state governments as well as the Centre “to take immediate and appropriate actions against the vigilantes, who in the garb of Gau Rakshak Dals (cow protection groups) had been spreading violence..." BARELY A week after a man was killed, allegedly by ‘gau rakshaks’ (cow protectors), on suspicion of transporting cows in Alwar, the Supreme Court Friday sought responses from the...

-TheWire.in Inaction of state government to regulate abattoirs in the past cannot be a shield for imposing “a state of almost prohibition” on meat, says Allahabad high court. Noting that food habits are an essential part of UP’s secular culture, the Allahabad high court held that food and trade in foodstuff is constitutionally guaranteed under the right to live. The Lucknow bench of the high court was ruling on a petition brought...

-Livemint.com As the country still continues to debate the beef ban and its impact on agrarian distress, data shows that what’s really being hit is the sex ratio of the Bovine population New Delhi: Bulls are missing, both in India’s equity markets and in its fields. As the country still continues to debate the beef ban and its impact on agrarian distress, data shows that what’s really being hit is the...