-Newsclick.in Joblessness is zooming, inflation is at six-year high led by food inflation, exports are down further, industrial production is stagnant and investment is at a standstill. In the last six months or so, the Modi Government has supposedly been paying close attention to the sinking economy, with a flurry of meetings, announcements of freebies to corporates, fervent assurances to markets and budget shenanigans to supposedly keep the deficit in check and...

-The Hindu There are many parallels but also important differences between the current protests and the JP movement of the 70s, says this eminent historian A historian of modern India, Gyan Prakash is the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University and author of the 2018 book Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy’s Turning Point. He compares the current situation in the country to the turmoil of the 70s. Excerpts: * How would...

-Newsclick.in The latest education budget needs condemnation but got kudos. In recent times there has been growing discontent in universities and colleges over rising fees and cost of education. The growing worries about access to higher education for students of modest means extend beyond this, to the steady privatisation of higher education. Already, according to the Government’s own data, nearly 77% of the colleges, accounting for about two-thirds of the students, are...

-Down to Earth This is because agriculture in India is largely dependent on chemicals including pesticides and their usage has a huge impact on the health of humans, animals, bio-diversity and the environment Pesticides are regulated in India through the Insecticides Act, 1968 and Insecticides Rules, 1971. The experience in administering this Act over the last five decades has exposed certain gaps which spurred the need to propose a new law. The Pesticide...

-IANS According to Rajan Wadhera, President of industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), which gives out the auto sales numbers, the overall slump in vehicle sales in India was due to the 'rising cost of vehicle ownership and slower growth in GDP'. Cheaper lending rates in the country along with the Government's booster via tax cuts seem to have had little effect on vehicle sales in January, with car sales...