-The Economic Times PUNE: As 2016 proved to be the hottest year in recent times, MS Swaminathan, the architect of India's Green Revolution, thinks that it is time for India to take anticipatory action to insulate major crops from adverse impact of high mean temperature. The veteran expressed his concerns about rising temperature trends and gave suggestions for securing the country's food security with a series of Tweets. "Having seen the hottest year...

-The Hindu A committed team of Dalit activists and academicians are working to establish a presence on social media New Delhi: Long time social media refusenik, the Bahujan Samaj Party, is embracing Twitter and Facebook ahead of the 2017 UP Assembly elections but with a difference. By focussing on issues the party supremo Mayawati has been lampooned for, concerted efforts are being made by academics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) with help...

-The Indian Express Preventive detention is being routinised as an instrument of state repression The recent preventive detention (PD) of Khurram Parvez, a Kashmiri human rights activist, and Jignesh Mewani, a Dalit leader from Gujarat, has turned the spotlight on the provision of PD and the purposes it is being made to serve. National Crime Records Bureau data released in September 2015 indicate that over 3,200 people were being held in administrative...

-Livemint.com Labour unions are reinventing their strategy to stay relevant in today’s world New Delhi: Ajitesh Pandey, a law student in Calcutta University, is excited about the 2 September strike called by labour unions. With almost child-like enthusiasm, the member of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), has been sharing pictures, slogans, and details related to the protest with his friends and colleagues. Pandey’s excitement reflects a surprising vibrancy in how unions...

-The Hindu A recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan, published in the Economic and Political Weekly, provides insights into how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s online image was constructed and evolved over time. By analysing data from @narendramodi Twitter handle — official account of Mr. Modi — researchers found that a combination of carefully crafted Tweets and strategic follow-backs to other Twitter accounts helped Modi build a powerful online...