-PTI Ahmedabad: ToRrential rains pounded parts of Gujarat today, leading to a deluge-like situation at several places, even as the state’s disaster management authority has been put on alert to tackle any emergency situation. Tankara gauged a massive 280 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours. Teams of the disaster management department with the help of National Disaster Response Force personnel rescued around 14 people stranded in floodwaters in the district. “Tankara...

-The Indian Express Branding the farmer agitations ‘political’ betrays a lack of understanding There is no proof required that economists commenting on farmer issues have reached an affliction point. When the counsellor one seeks advice from is as callous as saying that the farmers’ agitation was political and justifies it by citing declining farmer suicides and rising farmer prosperity (‘Just why are farmers rioting?’ by Surjit Bhalla, IE, June 10), one can’t...

-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...

-Firstpost.com If one purely compare the January-March quarter GDP growth of fiscal year 2017 and fiscal year 2016, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s prediction that demonetisation will shave off 2 percentage points of India’s GDP has come true. In the January-March quarter of FY16, GDP grew by 9 percent, which has come down to 6.1 percent in the corresponding quarter this year— a near 3 percentage point difference. Even the full...

-The Indian Express Concept of ToRture alien to our culture: AtToRney General Mukul Rohatgi New Delhi: From complaints of eroding minority rights and religious intolerance to the crackdown against NGOs, women’s rights to LGBT rights, Kashmir to Afrophobia — India’s track record on human rights came under sharp scrutiny at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday in Geneva. Several countries expressed concerns on India’s FCRA laws, incidents of religious intolerance, women’s rights...