-The Hindu The Modi government’s policy is choking domestic demand at a time when global demand is also weak. This is hardly a recipe for double-digit growth. The title seems provocative. After all, for the last several months, we have all heard that India is now the fastest growing large economy in the world. The Finance Minister keeps assuring us that the country’s economic revival is on a firm footing and that...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: Literacy rate among Muslims in Bengal has moved past the days of the Sachar Committee review and risen 11.27% in the past decade. It is also marginally ahead of the national rate. According to the 2011 census data released on Wednesday, Muslim literacy rate in the state has risen to 68.74% from 57.47% recorded in the 2001 census. The national Muslim literacy rate stands at 68.53%. The comparable...

-GovernanceNow.com A survey in drought-hit Bundelkhand paints a startling picture of farmers in distress Bundelkhand, the land of famous warriors Alha and Udal, is entrapped in an unending battle. But unlike 1857, today there is no ‘harbola’ to tell the stories of sacrifices. Then, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan wrote, “Bundele harbolon ke munh hamne suni kahani thi, khoob ladi mardani voh to Jhansi wali rani thi (from the mouths of storytellers of...

-The Hindu The manner in which crucial laws are being amended will end up eroding rights that have deep consequences on the lives of our children and us as citizens of a thriving democracy. All because the state hasn’t been able to deliver what it was mandated to do. The last few months have seen an alarming trend of crucial laws being amended, or sought to be amended, in a manner that...

-The Indian Express India's record is particularly distressing when it comes to representation of women in Parliament and their labour force participation. It is three years Wednesday, since the brutal Delhi gang-rape seared the country’s conscience. The outrage that followed led many to believe that this could be the catalyst that would bring about radical change in India’s endemic gender disparity. However, the recently-released Gender Inequality Index tells a sorry tale...