The increase in the total number of suicides committed in India during 2020 in comparison to the previous years has hit the headlines recently. While some media commentators have stated that the economic distress (caused by job loss, income loss, failure of business, and growing hunger, among other things) in 2020 could have led to more suicides being committed, others have said that home isolation and deteriorating mental health (associated...

-Newsclick.in BJP wants to turn farmers into daily wage workers in the corporate sector, says the author of the report that analyses the economic status of farmers who died during the ongoing protests. On 26 November 2020, waves upon waves of farmers descended upon India’s Capital. Barricaded from entering Delhi, they pitched tents at three border crossings on the outskirts of the city. They have resolutely stayed there since then, braving the...

-Scroll.in Young people from marginalised communities are building networks to challenge the upper-caste capture of academic and professional spaces. One day sometime in mid 2020, Aditi Priya, a Masters’ graduate in economics employed with a research organisation, messaged Disha Wadekar, a lawyer, on Facebook. Priya needed help with research she was conducting on the link between police presence and gender-based violence on women, particularly in marginalised communities. She felt Wadekar, as a...

-The Hindu A troubled Meghalaya will see unrest growing until 2023, when the next elections are due, says the editor of ‘The Shillong Times’, Patricia Mukhim On August 13, an ailing former leader of an armed group was shot dead in the middle of the night at his home in Shillong by a police team. The incident led to unrest in Mawlai where the encounter occurred and resonated in the adjoining neighbourhoods...

-TheWire.in While the BJP says that the state leads in crime, the Rajasthan government attributes the rise in cases to its policy of compulsory registration of FIRs. Jaipur: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Rajasthan lately have been vocal on one issue: rising crime in the state. Whenever a case of loot, murder or rape is reported, local leaders rally against chief minister Ashok Gehlot with the charge that Rajasthan has topped...