-The Indian Express Nagri, Bhojpur: Residents of Nagri in Bihar’s Bhojpur had spent 12 years waiting for justice after the killing of 10 people, nine of them of scheduled castes and OBCs and one a Muslim, during a caste attack on May 11, 1998. And after they felt justice had finally come, it proved short-lived. “First, we had to wait 12 years before the lower court finally handed the death sentence to...

-The Indian Express Samelia: Narayan Singh listens with rapt attention as social activist Shankar Singh urges villagers in remote Samelia in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district to fight for their rights. Convinced that his voice would count, Narayan signs up to go to Jantar Mantar in Delhi to protest with 25,000 villagers, urban poor, rag pickers, daily-wage labourers to press for universalisation and enhancement of old-age pension. The issue concerns countless elderly poor who...

-The Economic Times The government plans to revive cultivation of crops that make Punjab's iconic "makki ki roti and sarson ka saag" -- maize and mustard -- along with horticulture and fodder to breathe life into the stressed soil and the rapidly depleting water table in the green-revolution state. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is pushing hard for crop diversification in Punjab and has appointed an inter-ministerial panel on crop diversification led by Agriculture...

-The Business Standard The Union Budget shows the charitable instincts of the government continuing to overwhelm it - though some would call it part inefficiency and part helplessness. The exemptions given to citizens on the tax they ought to pay have been exceeding the Plan expenditure, and even the total fiscal deficit as it did in 2012-13. This has prompted criticism from the Left parties and activists, who view it as evidence...

-CNN-IBN Finance Minister P Chidambaram plans to get more income for the government by taxing the super-rich and the corporate sector even though he left untouched income tax rates and slabs. Chidamabaram allowed some relief for those who earn between Rs 2-5 lakh per year by announcing that they would be granted a tax credit of Rs 2000 and left most of the items untouched by not tinkering too much with...