-The Telegraph New Delhi: Police have arrested five activists, including an editor, a professor and a lawyer, on the suspicion of being Maoists, more than six months after an attack by alleged Hindutva groups on Ambedkarities visiting a war memorial near Pune. Those arrested have been booked under several charges, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Pune police on Wednesday arrested Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) spokesperson Rona Wilson from...

-India Climate Dialogue It does not depend on erratic electricity supply from the grid Sandeep Alse, a farmer who grows fruits and vegetables in Marathwada, a drought-prone region in Maharashtra, found it difficult to reach the market with his produce on time, due to poor infrastructure. The lack of cold storage facility in the vicinity added to his woes and much of his harvest was spoiled, making it difficult for him to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: After its plan to penalise journalists identified as purveyors of fake news was nixed by the PMO, the I&B ministry has now decided to set up a social media communication hub and deploy executives to monitor online content across each of India’s 716 districts. The monitoring mechanism, once in place, will be able to read, contextualise and respond to content in most Indian and foreign languages...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The agriculture ministry on Tuesday released the Model Contract Farming Act, 2018, which lays emphasis on protecting the interests of farmers, considering them as weaker of the two parties entering into a contract. The ministry says that it is a promotional and facilitative Act and not regulatory in its structure. In addition to contract farming, services contracts all along the value chain, including pre-production, production and post-production,...

If someone is a rural male, what occupation would he prefer? A rational person might say that depending on the highest prevailing daily wage rate in a particular occupation (which is subject to seasonal variation) vis-à-vis the rest, he will make his choice.   An exercise undertaken by the Inclusive Media for Change team based on the latest available month-wise wage data of rural men shows that there is a seasonal variation...