-The Hindu The Centre is riding roughshod over Kashmiri public opinion already beset with disaffection In the face of a massive security build-up in Kashmir at the close of July, a seasoned journalist conjectured, “This is just the right time when militants and their masters in Rawalpindi could do with a terror attack in Kashmir.” Such were the arguments trotted out by experienced media persons in seeking to account for the extraordinary...

-PTI * India, ranked 13 on Aqueduct's list of 'extremely highly' water stressed countries * 'Water stress is the biggest crisis no one is talking about,' said President and CEO of the World Resources Institute Washington: India is among the 17 countries, which are a home to a quarter of the world’s population, facing "extremely high" water stress, close to "Day Zero" conditions when the taps run dry, according to a report unveiled...

-Down to Earth The court’s suggestions, like making MSP a legal right and increasing it to THRice the cost of production, are practical but need effort in implementation, say experts The Punjab and Haryana high court recently recommended that minimum support price (MSP) be made farmers’ legal right and it be set at THRee times the cost of production. But will these or a slew of other measures the court suggested address...

-The Indian Express What is Article 370 and 35A: A recent central ordinance, which extends reservation to SCs and STs in J&K, THRows the spotlight on Article 35A, as well as Article 370 from which it derives. What are these two provisions? * What is Article 370? Included in the Constitution on October 17, 1949, Article 370 exempts J&K from the Indian Constitution (except Article 1 and Article 370 itself) and permits...

-The Indian Express Helping farmers produce solar energy can help realise the government’s target of doubling farmers’ incomes. In July, two interesting things happened that can help Indian farmers to a large extent in augmenting their incomes. First, the Union Finance Minister (FM) in her maiden budget speech asked why the annadata (farmer) cannot become the urjadata (producer of solar power). Second, in Parliament, the agriculture minister for state, responding to...