-Down to Earth Although farmers vote at least as much, if not more than industrial workers or urban middle classes, elections are not fought around farmers' issues Elections are about numbers. Democratic politics is about stitching together a majority. So, the larger a group, the bigger is its “vote bank”, and greater is its electoral clout. A social group that constitutes a majority can therefore dictate its terms in an electoral democracy....

-The Indian Express Pesticide Management Bill should address the anomalies that prevent state governments from booking large pesticide companies. “Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter,” goes an old African proverb, which is also apt to describe the state of the world’s farmers. Farmers are like the hunted lions who need their side of the story told and their sacrifices, agony, courage and fears...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission has sent a notice to the Maharashtra government following Media reports that its education department has decided to close down zila parishad schools with fewer than 10 students and shift them to nearby institutes. The NHRC, in a recent directive, gave the state government four weeks to submit a detailed report. It said the decision, likely to affect about 1,300 schools, according to the...

-TheCitizen.in What prompted me to write this piece is this picture. This picture is doing rounds on the social Media and is being celebrated by overnight sympathisers for the Muslim cause. People who haven’t uttered a word of condemnation to the killings of Akhlaq, Junaid or Afrazul, but on the contrary have shown covert support to the culprits. Suddenly, with the passage of The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage)...

-The Indian Express Issued by education department, it lists various tasks to be carried out for closure Pune: A day after the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sent a notice to the Maharashtra government over its plans to close 1,314 schools in the state, a defiant education department remained firm on its decision. While state Education Minister Vinod Tawde issued a statement, saying he would defend the state’s stand before the NHRC, the...