-Livemint.com Farmers’ welfare is a multi-dimensional issue, with the farm ministry playing a small but significant role Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to rename the ministry of agriculture to ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare may be symbolic, but is at the least a recognition of the stress in rural economy. The stress, particularly in the farming sector, is now all too obvious with the increase in suicides being reported in many...

-Deccan Herald Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have earned the ignominy of topping the chart of child marriages in the country. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report depicts a worse picture of south India as five states from the region — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — together account for almost half of the 280 cases of child marriage in the country. However, the data shows the biggest lacuna...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In significant progress made by states to check leakage of foodgrains under the public distribution system (PDS), 26 states and Union Territories have completed 100% digitization of ration cards in the past one year. Six states have digitized the supply chain for better monitoring of grain moving from godowns to the doorstep of consumers.  According to food ministry sources, the overall digitization of ration cards across...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today told the Centre to respond within four weeks on whether it had set up a panel, as a two-judge bench had ordered, to monitor if its directive on regulating government advertisements was being followed. The court's order to form such a three-member body of persons - "unimpeachable" in their "neutrality" - had come on May 13, but the government is yet to constitute such a panel. Hence...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government's announcement that it would maintain a publicly available database of sex offenders is being portrayed as a significant step in addressing the threat posed by criminals whose crimes largely go unreported and hence encourage them to repeat the offence. It also addresses the general perception that such criminals tend to repeat their act and hence need to be monitored. A look at laws in other...