-Down to Earth The new government has to focus on the rural population, their aspirations and the economy By this time most of us know Sunaina Rawat. Still a brief introduction: she is a 12-year-old girl from a village in Uttar Pradesh. When the news channel NDTV’s head Prannoy Roy interviewed her on life and aspirations while covering elections, she immediately became one of the most imposing symbol for the country’s rural...

-The Hindu ICDS is the world’s biggest mother and child nutrition and care programme It is an early spring morning. We are Walking deep inside hilly country in Karnataka’s Malnad region. When the monsoon comes, rainfall will be intense in these parts, and will continue for many months. This is coffee terrain. With the great tall trees above us, and the plantation ahead of us, we have been Walking on this narrow path...

-The Hindu Better education is not leading to better job opportunities, marriage prospects or freedom of movement Abigail Adams, wife of the second President of the U.S. and mother of the sixth President, wrote to her husband, “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion.” As last year’s #MeToo movement and Sabarimala protests showed, perhaps Indian women are echoing her and are...

-The Hindu Business Line Not satisfied with CM Fadnavis’ promises, ryots to renew protest, walk from Nashik to Mumbai starting tomorrow Over one lakh farmers across Maharashtra would march from Nashik to Mumbai from Wednesday in a repeat of their much-talked-about ‘Long March’ last year as the talks between farmer leaders and state government officials remained inconclusive on Sunday. The farmers, who would cover nearly 165 kilometres over eight days to reach Mumbai...

-Livemint.com Some perspectives on the issue seem to paper over the problem and get into comparisons There is much discourse on both the issue of agrarian distress and farmer suicides. However, there have been some arguments that seem to paper over the problem and get into comparisons—that the people who committed suicide just happened to be farmers; that they were not poor; that (as argued by Shamika Ravi of Brookings India) the...