-The Telegraph The Narendra Modi government's record in tacitly supporting the actions of a bunch of vigilante thugs who have been terrorizing the country, especially the Muslims and the dalits, in the guise of gau rakshaks, or opponents of love jihad, or 'nationalists', has been so outrageous that it has grabbed all the critical attention. In the process, the government's abysmal failures in other spheres have gone virtually unnoticed. One such...

-The Indian Express Farmers’ protests threaten the BJP’s rise. But local character, lack of ideological vision limit their potential. The protests by farmers in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh should not be seen in isolation. Besides the political economy of these protests, the implications for competitive politics are going to be complex. In order to appreciate these implications, the farmers’ protests need to be situated in the larger backdrop — despite the...

-NDTV Telangana government had coached children from underprivileged backgrounds, who were students of free government schools. Now they will go to IIT and NIT. Hyderabad: Marginal farmers, labourers, orphans, dalits and tribals - nearly a hundred children from very underprivileged backgrounds have made Telangana proud this year. With special coaching from free government schools, 27 of them have cracked the entrance examination for the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology. The other...

-The Economic Times CHENNAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has granted an interim stay on the implementation of rules banning the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at animal fairs — notified by the central government in May — marking the first judicial pronouncement on an issue that has sparked off heated debate countrywide. The court on Tuesday, in response to a public interest litigation filed by Madurai-based...

-Livemint.com Conviction rates for crimes against dalits have declined sharply since 2011 The recent clashes between dalits and Thakurs in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh (UP) have once again thrown the spotlight on the deep fault lines in Indian society. While violence against lower caste groups such as dalits or scheduled castes (SCs) has a long history in the country, such crimes have been on the rise over the past few years, data...