-The Indian Express While crimes against Dalits are increasing, the state has time and again let them down, with little action against the perpetrators. Atrocities against Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are a regular feature of the caste-based Indian society and distressingly, of late, they have begun increasing. What is ironical is that only recently, the country commemorated the 125th birth anniversary of B .R. Ambedkar, the icon of the...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Government transport in Haryana, Karnataka and Telangana, industrial areas in the National Capital region, hotels in Himachal Pradesh and banks and insurance offices across India may not function on Friday as central trade unions will hit the streets for a general strike. Last year, the trade union’s strike saw an estimated 15 crore workers take the day off. “This year we expect the figures to be higher,” said...

-Newslaundry.com A new study shows how both state and central governments flouted SC orders in drought hit states Thirty three crore people were affected in 10 states by the drought in 2015-16. However, despite Supreme Court orders to provide subsidised food grain and continue mid day meal scheme during summer holidays, the centre and the state governments failed to do so. The court’s order had come on May 13, during the Swaraj...

-The Indian Express The incidence of farmers taking their own lives is higher in regions where cooperative banks are the weakest. Nanded (Maharashtra): The verdant soyabean fields at Digras today are a far cry from the barren landscape they presented only a few months ago. But for residents of this village in Ardhapur taluka of Nanded district, the memories of drought in three out of the last four years will not fade...

-The Indian Express Government has the opportunity to rein in food inflation on a sustainable basis. In his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi counted his government’s achievements. Bringing down inflation from double digits to below six per cent was emphatically mentioned as one that brought relief to the aam aadmi. Without doubt, we witnessed moderation in the overall consumer price index (CPI) and wholesale price index (WPI) levels in the past...