Carbon Copy A freshly passed amendment to the Forest Conservation Act has created a stir among ecologists, parliamentarians and stakeholders. With several contentious provisions, the amendment reveals an afforestation push where rights and justice take a backseat to commercial interests. This week, amidst a raucous monsoon session, the Indian Parliament saw the passage of several consequential pieces of legislation in quick succession. Among them was the contentious amendment to the Forest Conservation...

Carbon Copy A Climate Trends analysis of 2022 satellite-based data generated by IIT Delhi scientists revealed that the annual average of the most toxic air pollutant, ultrafine particulate matter (PM) 2.5, was as poor in rural India as urban India. This has put under scanner the Centre’s policy of only investing in selected urban areas of the country for controlling toxic air  According to the analysis in 2022, the average annual...

-Newsclick.in SKM leaders Darshan Pal and Yogendra Yadav have outrightly rejected the committee. The Central government's decision to exclude Punjab institutions and state government representations from a committee on agricultural issues has been called out by farmer leaders. The committee, headed by former agriculture secretary Sanjay Agrawal, will have 26 members, including farmer representatives, agri-scientists and agri-economists, as well as officials from Central and state governments, a notification issued by the Ministry of...

-Business Standard Representatives of agriculture universities and institutions have also been included in the panel. Joint secretary (crops) in the Ministry of Agriculture will be the member secretary in the panel Nearly eight months after the government repealed the three controversial farm Acts, it has constituted a high-powered panel under the chairmanship of former agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal to make the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism more effective and transparent as promised...

-Scroll.in Reporters Without Borders reiterated its last year’s description of the country as one of the world’s most dangerous ones for the media. India’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index fell from 142 in 2021 to 150 this year out of 180 countries, media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières said on Tuesday. The organisation has been publishing the World Press Freedom Index since 2002. India’s rank has fallen to 150 in 2022 from...