-PTI Karnal in Haryana and Patiala in Punjab have been chosen as model districts for implementing orders to stop stubble burning, the National Green Tribunal has been informed. The state governments told the green panel that both these districts have been selected due to high rural population and agricultural activity in these areas. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the Haryana and Punjab governments to submit complete action plans...

-The Indian Express De-listing of 255 parties by the EC has thrown up data on distribution of India’s minor political outfits and the nature of political entrepreneurship in the country. On December 23, The Indian Express began reporting a multi-part series on 255 political parties that had been de-listed by the Election Commission after it found that none of these had put up a candidate for any Vidhan Sabha or Lok...

-The Hindu Cultivators in Punjab and Haryana head for another period of distress, thanks to demonetisation Demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes has badly hit potato growers in Punjab and Haryana where farmers are heading for yet another period of distress as they are finding it difficult to recover even the cost of produce, let alone make profits. In Jalandhar’s vegetable market, the fresh-crop potato fetched as low as Rs. 100...

-The Indian Express A report on air quality, released during the conference, said Varanasi and Allahabad have not seen a single ‘good’ air quality day in the past one year. Varanasi: Burning agricultural residue doesn’t just bring down air quality, but also leads to longer spells of dense fog, scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur have concluded. While the concentration of oxidised organic carbon that is produced after burning biomass —...

-Hindustan Times Village Khokh (Patiala): Nek Singh Khokh fears he might wilt, just the way the saplings in his sprawling nursery might. Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled his demonetisation plan, scrapping big denomination currency to drain the economy of black money and counterfeits, Khokh has been struggling to pay labourers to tend to his saplings. The owner of a nursery, some 25 km west of the Punjab town of Sirhind, Khokh...