-Bloomberg At the heart of the problem is the way informal businesses like the Varanasi weavers make payments. Varanasi: In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political base of Varanasi, Hinduism’s holiest city, weaver Zainul Abedin stares at the uneven mud floor of his home. Behind him, more than a dozen handlooms lie idle. Abedin is part of the collateral damage of Modi’s Nov. 8 decision to ban high-value currency notes, effectively cancelling...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A seven-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court today took up for consideration the question whether the use of religion and caste in elections amounts to "corrupt practice", warranting disqualification under the Representation of Peoples Act. The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, during the day-long hearing posed several questions for which it has sought answers from various counsel appearing in the matter. The bench was...

-The Hindu A recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan, published in the Economic and Political Weekly, provides insights into how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s online image was constructed and evolved over time. By analysing data from @narendramodi Twitter handle — official account of Mr. Modi — researchers found that a combination of carefully crafted tweets and strategic follow-backs to other Twitter accounts helped Modi build a powerful online...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Citing 85 major incidents of alleged persecution of Christians across 20 states last year, a report by a minority and human rights NGO says 2015 saw an unprecedented spike in "intolerance" against the community. The report says on an average India saw one such incident of hate crime against Christians a day last year. While the report terms Madhya Pradesh as the worst state, followed by...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Tweaks the home ministry has proposed to rules governing foreign funding for NGOs will leave these organisations at the mercy of the government's unilateral interpretations of what violates an undefined idea of "national interest", social activists have said. More than the suggested new rules themselves, put up on the ministry website for feedback yesterday, it's the mandatory declaration proposed for NGOs at the end that critics have termed...