-The Telegraph New Delhi: The government is set to amend the guidelines for a scholarship scheme for tribal research students, linking selections to how they score in the National Eligibility Test that aspiring college teachers need to clear. Sources in the tribal affairs ministry said the proposed guidelines - that might also cap the age of applicants at 33 - could be notified before this month ends. At present, tribal candidates, irrespective of...

-Livemint.com We don’t know enough about the socio-economic status of different caste groups, and our political class doesn’t want us to know Over the past couple of years, one Indian state after another has been on the boil because of caste-based agitations. The latest state to be engulfed in caste conflict is Maharashtra, where a stir by the dominant caste of Marathas seems to have led other Backward Classes (OBCs) and...

-TheWire.in Members of nomadic and denotified tribes are required to produce address proof from 1961 to obtain a caste certificates, without which they cannot avail the benefits of government schemes. Chetan Ramchandra Pawar, 23, works as a labourer 125 kms away from Pune in the farms of Sansar village. That is, if he is lucky enough to get work. Pawar, who belongs to the Vadar community – a nomadic tribe – otherwise...

-The Hindu Confining it to just the Ministry of Rural Development would be the most retrograde step in democratic decentralisation in over a quarter century. If, as The Hindu’s exclusive on Wednesday indicates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi were to close down the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, it would confirm one’s worst fears about his government’s hypocritical approach to grass-roots democracy for grass-roots development. This was a lacuna that was evident in the ‘Gujarat...

-The Indian Express The anti-discrimination clause will provide recourse to buyers who are denied a house by builders owing to their caste, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, dietary choices or any such factors. The Centre is set to introduce an anti-discriminatory clause in rules under the real estate Act to curb the practice of builders refusing to sell their apartments based on a buyer’s religion, marital status or dietary preferences. The Real Estate...