-TheWire.in Private moneylenders are a major source of loans across the region, and with the collapse of banking in rural areas, their role has only grown. Baliram Kadpe is critical of the Maharashtra government. “Farmers do not get the minimum support price [for their crops, from the state],” he says with concern. “And it is tedious for them to acquire crop loans.”  Kadpe believes if the state ensures that farmers have access...

-The Hindu Her murder is an attempt to kill an idea What killed Gauri Lankesh? This is not the same question as “who killed Gauri Lankesh?” This is deeper and a more rewarding question. In any case, this is the only question we can meaningfully answer in the public domain. A murder involves four categories of culpability: those who carry out assassination, those who conspire, those who encourage or benefit from it,...

-Hindustan Times The high court called the PM Narendra Modi-led government’s reaction to the violence “only a knee-jerk” one, dismissing the argument that the havoc occurred in different states ruled by different parties. Chandigarh: The Prime Minister is of the nation and not the BJP, the Punjab and Haryana high court remarked on Saturday as riots engulfed two states after controversial “godman” Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted of rape. The court...

-The Times of India Last week, a Hyderabad court acquitted 10 accused in the 2005 Hyderabad suicide bomber case. The blast had earlier been pinned on the Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI) of Bangladesh, but the police's special investigation team could not back its claims. While most newspapers and TV channels reported the news, the hardship suffered by the 10 Muslim men who languished for 12 years in prison, was largely buried. Twocircles.net,...

-The Indian Express Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti Limited, providing vocational training to women and selling pickles, allegedly pilfered funds from Bhagalpur district administration’s various accounts for at least half a dozen welfare schemes. Bhagalpur: Over 10 years and across two governments, of JD(U)-BJP and the RJD-JDU, one Bhagalpur NGO allegedly siphoned off an estimated Rs 700 crore of public funds. Nine FIRs and 12 arrests later, the Bihar government ordered...