-Frontline A noteworthy study that provides much-needed insights into the nature and severity of the farm crisis in Punjab. There have been many studies on agrarian distress and farmer suicides in different parts of India in the last decade, including in Punjab. Most of the studies focus on a profile of the victims, mostly landowning farmers, and reasons thereof, with a sample of such farmers. In this context, this book makes a...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Almost a quarter of India’s 370,000 beggars are Muslims, newly released data from the 2011 Census show, reinforcing that the community still lags behind on most counts despite the country’s rapid economic growth. Muslims, the largest minority who make up 14.2% of India’s 1.25-billion population, come out pretty much at the bottom of most socio-economic indices, even a decade after a high-level government probe into their historical disadvantages...

-The Indian Express Muslims have among the lowest suicide rates in the country at 7. The suicide rate among Dalits in Gujarat and Tripura is nearly 1½ times the overall suicide rate in each state. This emerges from government data collected on suicides across the country based on caste and Religion. The data, collected by NCRB in 2014 but never published, were accessed by The Indian Express through RTI. They show the average...

-PTI The state government says that approximately 1 lakh people beneficiaries will be identified from the state. Kolkata: In a first, the West Bengal government has decided to provide rice at Rs two per kg to sex workers and poor HIV patients in the state. “This project is the brainchild of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. For the first time in the country, a state government has decided that sex workers and poor HIV...

-The Indian Express The anti-discrimination clause will provide recourse to buyers who are denied a house by builders owing to their caste, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, dietary choices or any such factors. The Centre is set to introduce an anti-discriminatory clause in rules under the real estate Act to curb the practice of builders refusing to sell their apartments based on a buyer’s Religion, marital status or dietary preferences. The Real Estate...