-The Hindustan Times The editor, a liberal man, is taken aback by my question. "I don't hire people on the basis of their caste but their ability," he informs me when I ask how many Dalits he has in his newsroom. Nearly 70 years after Independence, my question should have been irrelevant. But a caste survey by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the University of Maryland, United States,...

-Business Standard The Government of India has requested all the States / UTs for testing of the meals from accredited labs. The Governments of NCT Delhi and Punjab have engaged accredited labs for testing of samples in their State. The States / UTs Government may involve Food Inspectors to collect the food samples for testing on quality parameters. The Mid Day Meal Guidelines envisage that teachers should not be assigned responsibilities that...

-The Indian Express Three members of a Dalit family in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar were killed, one of them decapitated before being thrown into a dry well in Jawkhede Khalsa village, on the night of October 20. The investigation is still on and the jury out on whether it was an act of caste violence or the result of a dispute. In recent times, however, it seems there is a surge in the...

-IANS NAGPUR: A record 120 debt-ridden farmers are reported to have committed suicide in November in the drought-hit Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra, an activist said here Monday. "While at least 65 farmers ended their lives in Marathwada, another 55 took the extreme step in Vidarbha region," Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti president Kishore Tiwari said. In the past 24 hours alone, around two dozen farm folk have committed suicide, according to available...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: "This government is trying to snatch away our rights, of both employment and land. We have come all the way to fight such injustice. Several people in my village voted for this government hoping they would improve our lives but they are doing just the opposite," said Lal Singh from Rajsamand district in Rajasthan. At a time when the NDA government's proposals to bring changes to some...