-Live Mint   Voters who gave the Congress its worst drubbing did not reject its welfare agenda, but its performance There are many who interpret the emphatic rejection of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the significant endorsement of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the elections of 2014 as a mandate to end the architecture of rights-based legislation for social and economic welfare constructed during the 10-year UPA regime. Commentators opposed...

-The Indian Express   Every time they step out, say the women of the village, it is with the fear of being teased, the shame of being seen, and the discomfort of counting hours. The two girls in Badaun who were raped and killed had left home to go to the fields to relieve themselves. Every time they step out, say the women of the village, it is with the fear of being...

-The Hindu   State procured paddy in March, was to pay Upper Kuttanad farmers in 10 days Kerala: Paddy cultivators in the Upper Kuttanad belt are reportedly faced with serious financial crisis due to the government's failure to disburse the price of the paddy procured from them. The paddy harvest in this part of the State began in the first week of March. Though the government had started procuring threshed paddy from the peasants...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: A swathe of ministries - from finance to fertilizer and petroleum - are going to make a case for a reduction in subsidies before Narendra Modi, a move that will push up your monthly expenditure but is expected to help the government cut wasteful spending and revive investment. Sources said the three ministries are identifying subsidies as a key constraint in their presentations that secretaries will make...

-The Indian Express     Mumbai: It's been eight months since the state government launched ‘Manodhairya Yojana', a scheme to provide monetary relief and rehabilitation for rape and acid attack victims, including women and children. But with little advocacy, lack of counsellors in civic-run hospitals, poor post-trauma support as mandated by the scheme, and most importantly, policy apathy, ‘Manodhairya' risks being a laudable scheme just on paper. AAMIR KHAN and TABASSUM BARNAGARWALA speak...