-The Indian Express In zones of prosperity, agriculture faces crisis, jobs are few, social aspirations don’t match economic realities After Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, farmers from Rajasthan came out on the streets demanding loan waiver and implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report. Protesting against government policies and demanding their share in the country’s development, which they argue have been denied to them, the farmers have shown unity across caste and class lines....

-The Telegraph Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today invited the leaders of the agitating farmers for talks tomorrow, while arson attacks continued at many places in Madhya Pradesh and another death was reported from protest hub Mandsaur. Ghanashyam Dhakad, a 26-year-old farmer, was said to be on his way to a temple last night when some policemen allegedly thrashed him with sticks. He was declared dead this morning at...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: As the government moves to set up a more empowered panel for OBCs amid agitations from strong communities to secure "backward" status, experts are warning that the Centre should prevent growing attempts to abuse the fruits of Mandal Commission. PS Krishnan, domain expert and a champion of OBC reservations, told TOI, "The government should prevent the efforts of well-established advanced communities to get into the list...

-Hindustan Times With the assembly elections over, one of the big issues which will hog public attention in the coming days is the Jat agitation. Before leaving Delhi after their protests on March 1, the Jats promised to come back on March 20 and convert the city into “Jat land”. Whether they will manage to do that or not only time will tell but the reasons for their anger --- lack...

-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...