-Economic and Political Weekly The platform known as the JAM Trinity (an acronym for Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobile numbers) may enable a shift from the current Public Distribution System, based on price subsidies, to the direct transfer of benefits. However, it is incorrect to argue that JAM technologies will necessarily lead to the demise of the PDS. State-level experiences of computerisation, recounted here, reveal that the same technologies can...

-India Today The NGT asked Delhi and four northern states to notify steps to check the menace of crop burning and imposed a fine on farmers indulging in such activities. Worried over high pollution level and smog engulfing the Capital, the National Green Tribunal on Wednesday asked Delhi and four northern states to notify steps to check the menace of crop burning and imposed a fine on farmers indulging in such activities. Observing...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A Delhi government Notification has paved the way for juvenile offenders and abandoned or surrendered children in the capital to get birth certificates if they lack one. The move, expected to be replicated across the country, will give lakhs of invisible children an official identity and make it easier for them to get into school and secure government welfare and documents, such as scholarships, passports and PAN cards. Only...

-The Telegraph Satyanand Singh, a grocery store owner at Aneesabad, is selling arhar dal at Rs 200 per kg, while Ashiana Nagar-based shopkeeper Deepak Kumar sells the same at Rs 190 per kg. Mohammad Rafi of Boring Road has been selling arhar dal at Rs 190 per kg and the rate for the same at Vishal Mega Mart on Fraser Road is Rs 194 per kg. As soaring prices of arhar dal (pigeon...

-Livemint.com A total of 302 districts across India, nearly half of its districts, received deficit or scanty rainfall this year A total of 302 districts across India, nearly half of its districts, received deficit or scanty rainfall this year (at least 20% short of normal), according to India Meteorological Department. Yet, only 110 districts in five states—Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh—have been declared drought-hit by the state governments. States...