Why do governments ignore the farm suicide numbers of the National Crime Records Bureau, when it is the only authentic source on the subject?  Kafka might have envied the script. In Delhi, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar informed the Rajya Sabha on May 7 that there had been just six farmers' suicides in Vidarbha since January. The same day, same time in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said that figure...

IN 2005, Gohana in Sonepat district of Haryana witnessed the torching of several Dalit homes by members of upper castes. Now Mirchpur, a village 58 kilometres away and located deep inside Hisar district, has met a similar fate. On April 21, as many as 18 homes belonging to Dalits from the Valmiki community here were set on fire by upper-caste youth over an alleged slight on the part of the...

The demand for restoration of caste-based census got a solid boost on Tuesday, with members of the Union Cabinet making a forceful pitch for the enumeration of OBCs nationally. A decision on the issue was deferred as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stressed detailed discussions, and there are indications that inclusion of caste as one of the criteria for the census may not be possible for the exercise that is already...

The Centre has claimed that India’s Northeast has never been as peaceful this century as it has been since January 2009. The “peace”, however, appears to have flowed from the barrel of a gun. The last 15 months have witnessed the lowest number of civilian and security force casualties in the region since January 2000, according to Union home ministry data for six northeasern states (minus Mizoram) released today. At the same...

UNLESS THE prices of vegetables skyrocket and become a scandal — as they have over several weeks now, or as did the price of sugar last year — little in the out-of-sight world of Indian agriculture excites the imagination of the city folks, who influence, rather disproportionately, everything from government policies to newspaper content. Few of those who enjoy a hearty meal and wax lovingly on their favourite dishes can...