-Countercurrents.org More than half of rural households in India are landless, or almost so. This deprives them of the most obvious asset needed for sustainable livelihoods and food security in villages–farmland. After  agriculture the next most important source of rural livelihood in India is dairy farming but here too the household with farmland has free access to crop residues which is increasingly not available to landless households who  have to incur extra...

-Frontline.in Senior advocate Rebecca Mammen John on how the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the National Investigation Agency are being “weaponised” against Indians who hold a different viewpoint from the government. Rebecca Mammen John, Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India, believes that a larger public debate, along with consistent judicial interventions, is the need of the hour if the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) is to be removed from...

-The Hindu Move after meeting with manufacturers A day after fertilizer producers announced a sharp 46% to 58.33% hike in prices citing higher raw material costs, the Central government intervened on Friday to ensure a rollback even though fertilizer prices are no longer regulated. Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya said prices would remain unchanged for now, after a ‘high-level’ meeting was held with the major fertilizer companies. Opposition parties had...

-The Hindu Rabi marketing season kicks off in Punjab Saturday but, until Thursday, the state and central governments had been locked in a tussle over the mode of payment to farmers. Chandigarh/New Delhi: A “threat”, some fireworks, and a concession — it was after a super-charged two-hour meeting between its ministers and Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal Thursday that Punjab finally agreed to introduce direct benefit transfer...

-Newsclick.in After the Union Government announced a mission to explore mining the Indian ocean floor for rare earth minerals in this year’s budget, environment conservationists and oceanographers in India are joining global calls for a moratorium on deep sea mining. April 9, Bengaluru: Indian activists have joined worldwide environment conservationists and oceanographers in opposing the recently announced Deep Ocean Mission by the Government of India. The Mineral Inheritors Rights Association (MIRA) – an...