According to the National Crime Records Bureau, since 2003, one Indian farmer has committed suicide every 30 minutes. In 2008, 16,196 farmers took their own lives, bringing the total number of farmer suicides in India between 1997 and 2008 to 199,132. (Significantly, P. Sainath is of the opinion that like all government data, these figures too are unreliable. For when women farmhands kill themselves, their deaths are not enlisted as...

In three districts of Haryana, they have been agitating against the land acquisition policy of the State government. WHEN farmers of western Uttar Pradesh took to the streets protesting against the acquisition of their lands and demanding a just compensation package from the State government, the central leadership of the Congress was quick to cite the example of Haryana, where, according to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the best policies...

Fresh reports of the possibility of a breach in the Tajewala barrage have created panic among the people in the low-lying areas. If there is a breach in the barrage then the national capital could face another serious flood-like situation. The reports of a possible breach have come after more than 2.5 lakh cusecs of water had been released from the Hathnikund Barrage in Haryana on Monday, which resulted in many...

KEY TRENDS   • Maternal Mortality Ratio for India was 370 in 2000, 286 in 2005, 210 in 2010, 158 in 2015 and 145 in 2017. Therefore, the MMRatio for the country decreased by almost 61 percent between 2000 and 2017 *14    • As per the NSS 71st round, among rural females aged 5-29 years, the main reasons for dropping out/ discontinuance were: engagement in domestic activities, not interested in education, financial constraints and marriage. Among rural males aged...

The Centre has written to all states to set up desks in each police station in the country to deal exclusively with crime against women and children. Asking the states to sensitise police towards crime against children through well-structured training programmes, the women and child development ministry has said there should be no delay in registering FIRs in cases of crime against children. “All-out efforts should be made to apprehend all the...