-The Hindu Sabotaging the Forest Rights Act damages democracy Since 1980, through the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) has “diverted for non-forest use” (bureaucratese for destroyed) over 1.5 million hectares of forest. How many Adivasis and forest-dwellers have been evicted by this ‘lawful’ forest destruction? Stripping these forests has yielded thousands of crores of rupees for corporations to which a bulk of these forestlands...

-Hindustan Times From a constitutional point of view, the scheme fails the tests of rationality and non-arbitrariness Earlier this month, the Supreme Court indicated that it would hear the long-pending constitutional challenge to the electoral bonds scheme. The electoral bonds scheme, which was introduced by the government in early 2018, provides new channels for private funding of political parties, and has been subjected to severe criticism, including by a former Chief Election...

-The Hindu Business Line The dismal quality of graduates is impacting the job market. But even high skilled workers are finding the going tough A big controversy has erupted over job creation under the Modi regime —in particular, over whether the unemployment rate in 2017-18 is, in fact, the highest in four decades as CMIE data as well as the officially undisclosed but reported in the press NSSO data seem to indicate. Further,...

-The Hindu Business Line Farmers observe fast to ‘denounce apathy’ to agrarian crisis Pune: Thousands of farmers and activists in Maharashtra observed a day-long fast on Tuesday to commemorate the suicide of Sahebrao Karpe, the first farmer to end his life in the State, and to denounce what they called the government’s apathy towards the agrarian crisis. Karpe, a farmer from drought-prone Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, committed suicide along with his wife and...

-The Hindu Most migrants are in the age group of 20-30 years Kolkata: Economic reasons are the precipitating factor for migration in the Indian Bengal Delta that comprises the Sunderbans reveals an international study titled Deltas, Vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation (DECMA).     The study also points out that there is huge gender disparity when it comes to those migrating from the region. The study which covers 51 blocks of districts of...