-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...

-Livemint.com August saw good rains in northern and eastern regions while peninsula, parts of central India remained mostly dry New Delhi: The southwest monsoon was 3% short of its long-term average till the end of August, India’s weather office said on Thursday. Around 87% of the country has received normal to excess rainfall so far. Including 1 September, the shortfall has come down to 2%. August saw good rains in the country’s northern...

-Deccan Herald New Delhi: The number of honour killings has seen a whopping seven-fold increase from 28 in 2014 to 251 last year. Uttar Pradesh accounted for the majority of honour killings (168), followed by Gujarat (25) and Madhya Pradesh (14). While the country witnessed 251 cases of honour killings in 2015, another 135 lost their lives to witchcraft and a total of 24 were victims of child or human sacrifice. Even love affairs...

-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...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Fewer children were brutalised in 2015 than 2014. And yet, 451 girls were raped before they could celebrate their sixth birthday, and another 1,151 before their twelfth. That means a girl, not old enough to begin primary school, and three others yet to enter their teens, were raped every day in 2015. Four out of every 10 victims below the age of 12 were either in Maharashtra (365...