-The Indian Express Low crime rate numbers often don’t mean citizens are safer, and ‘rape capital’ and ‘crime capital’ could both be unfair assessments. In reports such as the one published by the National Crime Records Bureau last week, the quality of data is important, as is its placement in the right context. New Delhi: “It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts...

-Scroll.in ‘The primary reason for the abysmally low conviction rate for sedition cases is that the law is misapplied,’ said senior advocate Sanjay Hegde. The Indian police registered 112 cases of sedition across the country between 2014 and 2016, but only two have led to convictions, according to a report released by the National Crime Records Bureau on Thursday and a government statement in Parliament last year. The National Crime Records Bureau’s annual...

-Firstpost.com The bungling over the Maharashtra government's farm loan waiver scheme claimed its first victim on Monday, according to exclusive information with Firstpost. VK Gautam, Principal Secretary (Information Technology) has been sent on leave after criticism over the implementation of the scheme. Technical errors have plagued the scheme since its roll out, with farmers suffering because of glitches ranging from duplication of names in lists to incorrect Aadhaar details. VK Gautam applied for 15-day...

-Newsclick.in A World Bank study ignores slumping economy and raging joblessness to praise ‘reforms’. A charming little bromance seems to be brewing between the World Bank and India’s Modi-led government. A series of reports by the World Bank has praised Modi for various kinds of “reforms”. The latest is the so called “Doing Business” report of the World Bank which lavishes praise on the Modi govt. for making it easier to do...

-Livemint.com Global Hunger Index 2017 is a grim reminder of the huge disconnect between India’s relatively high levels of growth and its low ranks on human development It took the death of 11-year-old Santoshi Kumari from Jharkhand’s Simdega district to remind the country that hunger and starvation of young children is still a reality in India. This was not the first such incident. Last month, three brothers in Karnataka also died under...