-The Times of India SHILLONG: Thirteen miners were trapped inside a coal mine in the East Jaintia Hills district on Thursday, bringing into focus again the continuance of illegal and unscientific mining in Meghalaya despite a ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal in 2014. The miners had reportedly gone down a coal pit at Lumthari in the coal belt of East Jaintia Hills. The pit was full of water and upon...

-Scroll.in In Latehar district on Thursday, government officials acknowledged the problems faced by Parhaiya Adivasis, a ‘pARTicularly vulnerable tribal group’. On Thursday, Jirua Parhaian and Dhaneshwar Parhaiya sat in front of the large crowd that had gathered to take stock of the effectiveness of public schemes in Jharkhand’s Manika block, under which which their village falls. They belong to the Parhaiya Adivasi community, which is classified as a “pARTicularly vulnerable tribal group”....

-The Hindu Write-offs encourage defaulters, affect credit culture, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala tells Lok Sabha. On a day when the BJP’s loss in three State elections was pARTly attributed to rural distress and the Congress’s promise to waive farm loans, the government told the Lok Sabha that it was not considering any loan waiver scheme as it would affect the credit culture, incentivise defaulters, create a moral hazard...

-PTI BHOPAL: Congress president Rahul Gandhi's promise of a farm loan waiver if his pARTy is voted to power in Madhya Pradesh seems to have helped it reap a rich harvest of votes and end 15-year-long wait for power. In the wake of Rahul Gandhi's populist promise made during campaigning for the November 28 polls, cultivators did not sell their paddy produce and stocked them to reap the benefit of the promised...

-The Indian Express Why assembly election verdicts should occasion a rethink on loan waivers, MSP raises The results of the elections to state assemblies should be a humbling experience for the BJP. Political pundits have stARTed analysing the verdict, since the reasons for the BJP’s defeat have important implications for the parliamentary election of 2019. One factor that is being flagged by analysts is farm distress. Farmers across the country are not...