-The Hindu Two separate decisions on farm loan waivers could have a domino effect Chairing his first cabinet meeting after taking over the reins in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath approved a write-off on outstanding farmer loans of up to Rs. 1 lakh taken before March 31, 2016. The State cabinet also decided to waive loans worth Rs. 6,000 crore extended to small and marginal farmers that had turned into non-performing...

-Huffington Post A majority believed that religion (47%) should take precedence over science (33%). Socially conservative, religiously inclined, worried about jobs - a new nationally representative sample survey of India's youth paints a sobering profile of what young people think and want. Ten years after their first such survey, the Delhi-based Centre for the Study in Developing Societies (CSDS) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German foundation associated with a Political Party,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A clutch of legal amendments the Narendra Modi government has introduced to allow corporate political donors to mask their contributions drags the world's largest democracy against global currents of rising transparency in electoral funding, analysts and activists have warned. From Brazil to Bangladesh, and Croatia to Cyprus, countries of diverse sizes and varied histories with democracy have over the past decade adopted laws and rules aimed at making...

-Hindustan Times The recent crackdown on meat shops in Uttar Pradesh offers a peek into the ethical divide that exists between vegetarians and non-vegetarians in India. The increase in meat consumption, intensive animal farming and growing cruelty against animals has given rise to compassion movements across the world. It should be a matter of pride therefore that India is among the most-vegetarian countries in the world. But how does meat become a...

-Hindustan Times Aligarh: “She is a very Iron lady,” says Krishna, a municipal stenographer as I wait to meet the mayor of Aligarh, the BJP’s Shakuntala Bharti on a sultry afternoon. After over an hour, clad in a bright red sari with a thick golden border, vermillion streak on forehead and sindoor all the way back in her hair, Bharti, 51, walks in with a small black pug called Blackie. Amongst the first...