-The Times of India NEW DELHI: What is driving the fellowship hike protests across centrally-funded institutions such as the IITs, IISc,NITs or the IISERs? The last hike for the 1.25 lakh research scholar community was in 2014, that too after a gap of four years. With no hike sINCe then and no communication from the government, scholars across institutions have joined hands to launch a nationwide movement demanding a better stipend. Apart...

-PTI The biometric identity system is set for a revamp with new offline verification tools, non-intrusive approach Aadhaar, the country’s extraordinary attempt to give every citizen a biometric identity, is set for a massive revamp with new offline verification tools and non-intrusive ways for people seeking to voluntarily use the 12-digit unique number for new bank accounts and mobile connections. After a chaotic 2018, led by the landmark Supreme Court (SC) ruling on the constitutional...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Amid a flurry of farm loan waivers, financial institution Nabard has written to states advising them to ensure that dues of banks that actually write-off the loan are immediately cleared to ensure that the credit cycle is not broken. The move follows the experience of several lenders in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where the dues have remained pending although they had written off the loans...

-Economic and Political Weekly India is witnessing a new wave of agrarian protest. Grounded in a deep crisis in the country's agricultural sector, these protests express a deep sense of disappointment in the economic policies of the Modi regime. This article discusses how the new agrarian struggle should be understood as a symptom of the disintegration of the Modi regime's project of authoritarian populism. However, the author proposes that addressing India's...

-Livemint.com The farm loan waiver terms make little sense in Punjab where average landholding is over three times the national average Patiala/ New Delhi: All that Jagdeep Singh wants is a few hours of peaceful sleep. The 24-year-old from Sangatpura village in Punjab’s Patiala district had no clue that the morning of 11 December would change his life forever. At six in the morning that day, he woke up to the sudden...