-The Times of India MUMBAI: Over 300 persons have been prosecuted under Maharashtra's new beef ban law since it was enacted eight months ago. The state government provided this information to the Bombay high court, where it has rejected the claim that people who consume beef constitute a "cultural minority". In its affidavit before a division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and S C Gupte, which is hearing petitions challenging the beef ban,...

-The Pioneer Bhubaneswar: The increasing instances of farmers’ suicides due mainly to failure of crops and burden of loans incurred from different sources have brought traumatic shocks and a shattering blow to the farming community in Odisha and brazen shame to the present dispensation at the helm. It appears that the State administration is never worried and concerned about the agonies and tragedies of the poor cultivators. As reported, an astounding number...

-The Indian Express The current crackdown on the pulses trade may do more harm than good in the long run. The government has reasons to be concerned over spiralling dal prices — even more so when arhar at Rs 200 per kg has become a major campaign theme in the ongoing Bihar assembly elections. But that does not justify the kind of desperate measures it has resorted to. Not only have...

-The Indian Express Scapegoating ‘hoarders’ and ‘speculators’ for the spike in dal prices might have been effective in the 1960s. But today, it is only evidence of a rather sloppy conceptual policy framework. The pulse rate of a normal and healthy human body hovers between 60 and 100 beats per minute. There can be problems if it goes any higher — and a serious threat to life over 200 beats per...

-The Hindu Rural Indians do not seem to have benefitted as much from falling inflation as their urban counterparts. While inflation has been slowing both in rural and urban areas of the country, there is a widening difference between the two as rural inflation is decelerating at a much slower pace. The resultant gap between rural and urban inflation has more than doubled over the last one year, data analysed by HSBC...