-The Indian Express The NDA government’s approach towards MGNREGA — the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act — has differed from that of the previous UPA regime in one significant way: There is greater emphasis now in the building of “individual household” assets, as opposed to “community” assets, under the scheme that provides 100 days of guaranteed wage employment annually to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Kerala has become the first state to petition the Supreme Court for a review of its judgment that has been accused of "diluting" the SC/ST Atrocities Act by ruling against automatic arrests and allowing anticipatory bail. The Centre has already sought a review and recall of the March 20 judgment, which has triggered widespread protests and prompted a nationwide shutdown by Dalits on April 2 during which at...

-Hindustan Times Despite a rare, legal victory, Dalits of Mirchpur are back on the streets — to fight for the SC/ST Act that helped them win a case seven years ago. Mirchpur, Hisar (Haryana): Gulab Singh, 80, is frail and bent with age. He hobbles around with a wooden stick at the makeshift camp he lives in, outside Haryana’s Hisar city. But on April 2, defying his body and age, he marched...

-Hindustan Times Many face backlash and are boycotted from their communities for marrying outside their caste. With the social boycott bill, that came into effect last July, there is hope for the victims. Pune: On a cloudy Thursday morning in January, 1990, in Pune’s Cantt area, Umesh and Manju walked out of their homes separately — anxious and excited. After a month of waiting, the court had given them a date...

-The Times of India GURGAON: The Haryana government has kicked off a row by circulating an admission form in government and private schools across the state that seeks to know if the student suffers from genetic disorders or whether the parents are engaged in any “unclean occupation”. The form with 100 sub-heads given to students across the state, including Gurgaon, also seeks Aadhaar and PAN numbers, religion, caste, income and bank account...