-TheWire.in The court asked why the Union government is deviating from the 2013 expert committee report that said the release of GM crops should not be allowed in India till gaps in regulatory system are addressed. New Delhi: Amid concerns over environmental contamination due to genetically modified crops, the Supreme Court on Thursday, December 1, asked the Union government whether there was “any compelling reason for the release of GM Mustard”. “Is there...

-Hindustan Times Farm policymaking slowed down after the repeal of three laws in 2021. But the climate crisis, geopolitical instability and inflation have exacerbated the urgency for reforms In November 2021, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi repealed three contentious farm laws in a dramatic turnaround. The entire episode — from the passage of the laws, the protests that followed and the turnaround — had stalled national agriculture policymaking. Yet, as this column...

-Business Standard The budgetary allocation for MGNREGS has already been exhausted, if pending liabilities for the financial year are included Demand for work under India’s biggest anti-poverty scheme increased to a four-month high in November, government data showed as budgetary support for it is almost exhausted this financial year. More than 22.5 million people applied for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in November, the highest since August....

-The Telegraph Research finds that 28 per cent children spend six hours or longer on digital devices New Delhi: Over a quarter of adolescents aged 13 to 17 years spend six hours or longer per day on smartphones or digital devices, according to a nationwide survey that experts say has deepened concerns about digital-era addictions. The survey, based on responses from 9,633 parents from 287 districts, has found that 28 per cent children...

-The Hindu How did the Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust acquire personal information of voters? Can the data be recovered? The story so far: On November 16, Bengaluru’s civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said in a press release that it had cancelled permissions granted to the Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust to conduct house-to-house surveys to help create awareness about the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral...