-The Hindu On the first anniversary of Swachh Bharat Mission, the Urban Development Ministry on Thursday announced some crucial policy changes. On the first anniversary of Swachh Bharat Mission, the Urban Development Ministry on Thursday announced some crucial policy changes since it is planning to generate electricity and compost from municipal solid waste. “Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers will soon bring a proposal before Cabinet to provide Market Development Assistance on sale of...

-Business Standard Indian farming is labour intensive as mechanization is expensive. This model might change it while keeping the cost very low. The single biggest challenge in farming is debt. A large share of farmers’ insurmountable debt burden comes from purchase of farm equipment. Mechanized farming results in higher productivity but is notoriously capital intensive. A 40 HP tractor with 2 basic implements (a rotavator and a cultivator) and a trolley costs...

-The Indian Express We can add millions of hectares to irrigated land without building a single new dam. We just need to adopt a different method of managing the water already stored in them. One of the drivers of India’s irrigation sector has been the construction of large dams on our rivers, which Jawaharlal Nehru famously described as “the temples of modern India”. While these dams have helped increase India’s irrigated...

-Business Standard Letting states pass their own law could come in conflict with provisions in the land law of 2013 The Union government's proposal for states to have their own land acquisition laws that may pull down any or all the four pillars of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act could run in to an unprecedented legal hurdle. The 2013 law the United Progressive Alliance government had passed hinges on four pillars - consent,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The human DNA profiling Bill, as recommended by an official expert committee, has controversial clauses dealing with "issues relating to pedigree" and introducing an intrusive mode of collecting samples from living persons called "intimate forensic procedure". This procedure detailed in the draft Bill due to be introduced in the current session of Parliament involves collection of "intimate body samples" of living persons from "the genital or...