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...

Newsclick There is an acute shortage of teachers in government-run primary, upper primary and composite schools in Uttar Pradesh, despite the guidelines on the teacher-to-student ratio issued under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) of 2009. The new academic session of Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board schools is about to begin next month (April 1) but about 51,000 posts of assistant teachers are lying vacant in the...

The draft bill allows insurance companies the freedom to sell different financial products Mint The government is likely to introduce the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the monsoon session of Parliament to bring deep reforms in the insurance sector, including a provision for composite insurance licence and flexibility in entry barriers, two people aware of the development said. According to them, stakeholder consultation on the draft bill is expected to be...

-Hindustan Times Opposition legislators staged a walkout on the last day of the monsoon session to protest what they called Gavit’s “insensitivity” over the issue. Mumbai: Conflicting information over malnutrition deaths in the state emerged from the assembly on Thursday as ministers of the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government contradicted each other. Tribal development minister Vijay Kumar Gavit said that the state had not witnessed any malnutrition deaths in the past five years,...

-The Telegraph The activists flagged a reply by the Jharkhand food, and civil supplies department during the monsoon session about payment of food security allowances Jamshedpur: Food security activists in Jharkhand are pained at the difference between the government's claim in the state Assembly on the implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013, and stark realities at the ground level. The activists have flagged a reply by the Jharkhand food, and civil...