-The Telegraph PM Modi’s Gabbar Singh Tax is the best example of his modus operandi — talk big, and when it’s time to act, make things worse: Congress Traders and shopkeepers will hold a nationwide protest next week against a hike in taxes on a range of products, including food grains and household items, and services that kicked in from Monday. “The 5 per cent goods and services tax on a range of...

-The Telegraph The Telegraph reports on a riverine community’s determination to save its environs Once upon a time, when my forefathers were looking for land to settle down, they found this barren sandbar and decided to make it a habitable place,” says Nani Roy, 42, a resident of Manachar. Char is the Bengali word for sandbar. Manachar is the sandbar that extends from Durgapur Barrage to Panagarh in Burdwan district. About three...

-TheWire.in India is being targeted using a deeply flawed methodology that the WTO has prescribed for estimating subsidies arising from market price support. On July 1, a dozen US Congressmen wrote a letter to President Joe Biden, asking him to hold India to account for its decades-long violation of commitments made to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Their contention was that India had been providing minimum support prices to its farmers in violation...

-The Hindu * What are the Forest Conservation Rules and how will it affect forest dwellers and tribals? What is the government’s position on the updated rules? The story so far: The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sparred earlier this week on the latest version of the Forest Conservation Rules. Congress spokesperson, Jairam Ramesh, alleged that the latest version of the rules, updated last month, allowed forest land to be...

-ThePrint.in Raipur: The Chhattisgarh government on Thursday approved draft rules under the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act. The rules were approved at the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel here, a government spokesperson said. The PESA Act was enacted by Parliament in 1996 to ensure self- governance for people living in Scheduled Areas. The states were required to formulate rules for the effective implementation of the Act to strengthen gram...