-The Hindu The Chief Justice’s remarks and appeal saw the Prime Minister deliver an unscheduled speech immediately after the former took his seat Breaking down several times in his half-hour speech addressed directly at Prime Minister Narendra Modi present on the dais at the Annual Chief Ministers and Chief Justices Conference on Sunday, Chief Justice of India, Tirath Singh Thakur, launched a scathing attack on government inaction, squarely blaming the Centre for...

-The Hindu Drought has devastated once-prosperous Latur. In this two-part series Sharad Vyas (text) and Vivek Bendre (photographs) report from the parched district. Latur: The water train chugging into Latur last week captured national attention. But it took the spotlight away from the daily struggle of lakhs of people facing the immediate consequences of extended drought and acute water scarcity in Latur district. The vagaries of nature have already taken their toll:...

-The Hindu Business Line Deepalaya, a library in a corner of Delhi, is quietly transforming lives of children by giving them access to Books On Mondays and Fridays it’s easy to find the way to Deepalaya library, you just have to follow the children. Some are still in their school uniforms, most have changed into colourful ‘home wear’; and in groups of twos and threes, with Books tucked under their arms, they...

-The Hindu Business Line One man with a backpack is determined to introduce the children of Kalagachia, West Bengal, to the joys of reading The conductor calls out “Mallikpur brickfield!” as the bus grinds to a halt. Across the road a tall chimney is visible — part of the brick-making outfit that this place is named after. A narrow sand-and-gravel path snakes from the road, through paddy fields, towards a village. The...

-The Hindu Business Line Katha Nilayam, with its 88,000-strong collection, is the first stop for any queries on Telugu short stories Just before we begin our conversation, the 92-year-old Kalipatnam Rama Rao gets a call from a research scholar in Warangal. The caller wants to know whether a particular story written by Tadi Nagamma in the 1930s is stocked in Rao’s library. “I will have it checked,” Rao assures him, and immediately...