-Livemint.com The caste networks will disappear when the market economy starts to function efficiently The caste system is arguably the most distinctive feature of Indian society. The Indian population is divided into four hierarchical classes, or varnas, with a large sub-population of untouchables excluded entirely from the system. Within each of these classes, and among the untouchables, are thousands of castes, or jatis. The central rule in Hindu society is that individuals...

-The Indian Express Gorakhpur was only the acute manifestation of the chronic malady that ails our health system Outrage is a natural reaction to the terrible tragedy that cruelly crushed the lives of many innocent children in Gorakhpur. However, outrage is a wasted emotion if it is not accompanied by honest introspection to identify all contributory causes and followed by a cluster of corrective actions. The deaths of these children were caused...

-The Times of India LAKHIMPUR KHERI: Residents of Choudhipur village in Mailani area in Lakhimpur Kheri district, 70 km from here, have refused to celebrate Independence Day as they felt that no Development has happened in their village even 70 years after Independence. There is no electrification in the village and the roads are in terrible condition. The villagers are still forced to defecate in the open, as most of the...

-The Hindu Fifty years since the Green Revolution, the architect of the reform highlights the crisis facing Indian agriculture today It is 11 years since agronomist M.S. Swaminathan handed over his recommendations for improving the state of agriculture in India to the former United Progressive Alliance government, at the height of the Vidarbha farmer suicides crisis, but they are still to be implemented. To address the agrarian crisis and farmers’ unrest across...

-NDTV Jean Dreze didn't get to continue his speech anyway and walked back to his seat as Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh took charge. Jharkhand: Development economist Jean Dreze was forced to cut short his speech at a programme in Jharkhand after the state's agriculture minister Randhir Kumar Singh heckled him, reportedly because he was offended at his references to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the BJP's ideological mentor. A day later, several...