The agrarian crisis is far from over. Amidst news of farmers' suicide reported from parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, an official document released in December by the National Sample Survey Organisation states that nearly 52% of India's agricultural households were indebted during July, 2012 - June, 2013. The average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household in India was Rs. 47000 (see link below). Based on a survey of...

-Livemint.com The levels of debt are as high as 93% in Andhra Pradesh and 89% in Telangana New Delhi: Nearly 52% of agricultural households in India are indebted and levels of debt are as high as 93% in Andhra Pradesh and 89% in Telangana, shows key indicators from an NSSO (National Sample Survey Organisation) report released on Friday. The report, Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households in India, is based on a countrywide...

-The Hindu The trajectory of the Narendra Modi government's education policy has been "disappointing and makes one apprehensive," said Dr. Devesh Kapur, Director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on human capital, diaspora and political and economic change in developing countries. "It makes me apprehensive. I don't see any fundamental change in a view - common to our Left and...

-Livemint.com Women in the capital continue to be denied freedom of mobility in public spaces, safety audit by collective of women's groups finds New Delhi: Women in the capital of India continue to feel unsafe while using public transport, even two years after the horrific gangrape and murder of a young physiotherapy student that resulted in nation-wide protests. Women in Delhi continue to be denied freedom of mobility in public spaces, a...

-The Indian Express The Union government has decided to decriminalise suicide. A funny interpretation could well be that the Modi government can now commit hara kiri with impunity. But it should be noted that the cases under Section 309, which criminalises suicide, are haphazard, often concealing abetment to murder. Philosophically, it is argued that the right to life includes the right to die without provocation or abetment by anyone else. In a...