-Hindustan Times The BJP leadership has explicitly instructed the cadre to reinforce that the ongoing farm protests are “motivated” and an attempt to “destabilise” the country, a party functionary claimed The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has redoubled efforts to distance the farmer protests from the farm issues ahead of elections in states such as Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, where the demand from a section of farmers’ for repealing the farm laws enacted...

-Hindustan Times Around 250 residents of Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand started a march from Surguja district to Raipur, around 330 kilometres away, on Monday demanding cancellation of all coal mining projects in their region.  Environmentalists and activists are also taking part in the march. “The representatives of all 30 villages of Hasdeo Arand ... are part of this padayatra (foot march) demanding justice from state and Central government by cancelling all coal mining projects...

-The Telegraph APCR reproduced an account that sheds more on the ugly backdrop to the police firing and atrocity that followed A delegation of rights defenders who visited Assam’s Darrang district, where a day labourer and a child were killed in a land reclamation drive in a minority-dominated settlement last month, has reconstructed a grim picture of the government and private groups creating a situation that culminated in the police firing. The fact-finding...

-ThePrint.in From Jayalalithaa to Amarinder Singh, chief ministers throughout the years seem to have ignored the seniority principle in choosing chief secretaries. The position of the chief secretary is arguably the most crucial civil service post in any state. Normally, the senior-most serving Indian Administrative Service officer in the cadre is expected to be posted and officers senior to them, who are on central deputation, can be overlooked. Apart from suitability, the...

-TheNewsMinute.com Frances Haugen said research shows how Facebook magnifies hate and misinformation, leads to increased polarization and that Instagram can harm teenage girls' mental health. Things are not looking too good for Facebook, which also owns platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp after a whistleblower revealed that the company was aware of the negative effects of its products and decisions. The whistleblower, a source for Wall Street Journal’s series of stories, has...