-Down to Earth These communities have suffered on most social indicators due to a mix of poor logistics as well as prejudice and ostracisation   Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi households and neighbourhoods have suffered terribly in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the months following the declaration of the countrywide lockdown, data collected by a group of civil society organisations has showed. These communities were not able to avail...

-The Telegraph With malnutrition levels as bad as sub-Saharan African countries, a vegetarian diet is just an imposition for Indians Indian cuisine is not a homogenous entity, and food habits differ along regional, religious, caste, and class lines. Yet there is an assumption in dominant discourses that India is a vegetarian nation. According to Dr Veena Shatrugna, former Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderbad, contrary to any such assumption, about 80 per...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to accommodate representatives of most castes in his Council of Ministers but upper castes got a dominant presence, bagging 32 of the 58 berths. Ministers from Other Backward Classes, a crucial political constituency, numbered 13. Nine Brahmin leaders have found place in the Union cabinet, including Nitin Gadkari. Three Thakur leaders also made it, including Rajnath Singh, Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh...

-The Indian Express It would have made more sense — economically, legally, politically, morally, constitutionally — to have limited 10 per cent EWS reservation to those with farming or rural backgrounds The last few years have seen the so-called dominant farming communities — especially the Jats, Marathas, Patidars and Kapus — mount violent agitations demanding quotas in government jobs and higher educational institutions, whether under the OBC (Other Backward Class) or...

-The Indian Express Insecurity, more than poverty or indebtedness, is the key economic issue that politicians must address If social inequality is the most acutely felt social problem in India, insecurity, more than poverty, is the most acutely felt economic problem. While most measures suggest that only around one-fifth of the population today is under the official poverty line, large sections of those even much above that line are subject to...