-PTI With Ashis Nandy's diatribe against Scheduled Castes, and other backward castes earning nation-wide condemnation and calls being furiously made for suitable punishment, police has issued a crack down with Jaipur Literature Festival organisers facing the brunt of it as the author himself has fled the city. Police today asked the organisers of Jaipur Literature Festival not to leave the city till investigation into the case against author Ashis Nandy is over. Additional...

-PTI Six Indian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working for the uplift of women, dalits and poor have been approved for consultative status with the United Nations. The approval came by the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, which is a part of the UN's Economic and Social Council, during the annual ongoing session of the world body panel this week. NGOs enjoying general and special status can attend meetings of the Council and issue statements. Prominent among...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Rs 8 lakh crore for disabled welfare? The ministry of social justice and empowerment has asked government departments to earmark 3% of their budget on disabled-related interventions, raising the possibility of the huge sum over next five years that can bring the ignored social group to policy focus. The initiative flows from the 12th Plan document that has asked all government arms to earmark "reasonable amount"...

-CNN-IBN Sociologist and political psychologist Ashis Nandy on Saturday made a controversial statement at the Jaipur Literature Festival claiming that dalits and other backward castes were responsible for the corruption in the Indian society today. "It is a fact that most of the corrupt come from the OBC and the Scheduled Caste sections, and now the Scheduled Tribes," he said. "The maximum amount of corruption these days is by dalits, the backward...

-The Hindu Business Line A leap backward, says Right to Food Campaign Food rights activists, including National Advisory Council member, Aruna Roy, have called upon all Members of Parliament and political parties to reject the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s recommendations on the National Food Security Bill. Tearing into the Standing Committee’s report, submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker on January 17, the Right to Food Campaign (RFC), an umbrella of civil society organisations, said...