-Newslaundry.com Channels like Aaj Tak and ABP suggested the role of ‘Bangladeshi or Rohingya Muslims’ in the communal violence on April 16. “Modi, may you live long,” said Afsana, beating her chest and gritting her teeth. “You have now turned us into Bangladeshis.” Afsana, a vegetable vendor, is angry and disappointed. Decades ago, her parents migrated to Delhi from Kolkata, settling in Sunder Nagri in Northeast Delhi, hoping to make a living. They...

-IdeasForIndia.in The MaNDAl Commission and Sachar Committee reports, among others, have indicated the existence of caste inequalities within the four major caste groups. However, data on this subject remain limited. Using data from a novel 2014-2015 survey conducted in Uttar Pradesh, this article shows that within-group inequalities among upper castes are significantly less, relative to the within-group inequalities observed among both Hindu and Muslim OBCs and Dalits. Broadly, four social groups &NDAsh;...

-Scroll.in Anganwadi staff are vital to ensuring the wellbeing of India’s children. Yet in 2006, the Supreme Court refused to recognise them as government employees. The government of Karnataka needed a hundred women. It was 1982, the new Integrated Child Development Services scheme was about to launch in the state, and according to the advertisement in the local newspaper, these work opportunities were available specifically for women who had completed Class 10. Ameenabi...

-Centre for Science and Environment It is becoming clearer by the day that chemical fertilizers are not a sustainable solution to the problem of depletion of soil nutrients as a result of agriculture, particularly crop production. Biofertilizers and organic fertilizers not only provide nutrients to crops, they also help in restoring soil health and ecological balance. As we (re)discover the power and potential of biofertilizers and organic fertilizers, we need to...

-TheWire.in The MoEFCC's recent decision to exclude new-gen GM plants from the ambit of existing biosafety rules eNDAngers our food system, food exports, farmers' rights over their crops and the country's biological heritage for the sake of corporate profits. Christmas came early for Big Biotech companies and their allied seeds multipliers as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has recently, through an office memorandum, excluded the new generation genetically...