There is a general perception that men are the primary breadwinners and, therefore, they are the ones responsible for fending for their families. However, recently released data from the population Census 2011 shows that around 3.3 crore households in the country are headed by women. In other words, overall there are 13.2 percent female-headed households (See Chart 1). The Census data shows that there are 59.4 lakh single member female-headed...

Amidst uncertainty over India's performance in terms of agricultural production and livelihood security of rural population, the Union Budget of 2016-17 will be presented by Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley on 29 February. Given the extent of drought in more than 10 states of India during 2015-16, it is expected that the NDA Government will allocate more resources for rejuvenating the rural sector. Since the country has seen two years of...

-Frontline The NCRB data used to justify the new law bringing down the age of responsibility for criminal action are open to interpretation. Often the same data can be interpreted in different ways to arrive at contrary conclusions. Portions of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data have been quoted ad nauseam by the government and the media alike to justify the changes made in the juvenile justice law. Experts from the...

-The Hindu Farmers are going hungry and dying under burden of debt, says Congress RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal drew sharp reactions from the Opposition in the Assembly on Thursday when he claimed that not a single farmer had killed himself due to agrarian reasons or mounting debts during the 12-year reign of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party. “Those who are talking of farmer suicides in Chhattisgarh are defaming the State. Chhattisgarh...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Rock-star French economist Thomas Piketty said it was "very moving" for him to be in Mumbai "after what happened in Paris in the last few weeks". In a wide-ranging conversation moderated by writer Patrick French, Piketty, author of the acclaimed Capital, an exposition on global inequality, and renowned Harvard professor Michael Sandel, whom French introduced as "the public philosopher of the BBC", talked about everything from growing...