Rajasthan is one of the major opium producing states of India but opium farmers in the state are in distress over the new policies introduced by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. Many farmers have lost their licences to cultivate opium after the new policies were enforced by the government.
Under the new minimum qualifying yield (MQY) criterion mandated from 2017-18 for issuing a licence, the content of morphine, the main ingredient in opium and other narcotic drugs, will be counted. The farmers had to deliver an MQY of 49 kg of opium per hectare till May 2017 to obtain a licence for the next year.
In an exclusive interview with India Today, legal expert Harish Salve discussed the constitutional crisis in West Bengal following Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's refusal to resign despite losing her seat and the decisive mandate against her party.
An India Today ground report from Tehran details the ongoing conflict, its impact on the city's infrastructure and how Iranians have gathered at Enghelab Square to demonstrate solidarity and unity amid war.
The Congress state unit in Tamil Nadu held an online meeting and decided to extend support to TVK. Congress is seeking a power-sharing agreement and is likely to demand two cabinet portfolios, along with a few board and corporation chairman posts, and other government roles such as trust members and directors.
Watch as India Today's Geeta Mohan brings this exclusive ground report from Iran's fourteenth-century Golestan Palace, which was damaged during the US-Israel airstrikes on Tehran.
