-The Economic Times Minutes after taking oath on Monday as the new Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Kamal Nath sanctioned the waiver of farm loans in the state, as promised in the Congress election manifesto. Ostensibly, this is to relieve economic distress for farmers. But Nath himself was on record last week saying, “[Farmer distress] is why there are so many suicides.” Thus, the LIGhtning waiver. Before anything else, let’s get the facts...

-Newsclick.in The fourth edition of the India Exclusion Report comes down heavily on demonetisation and its impact on the poor. New Delhi: The fourth edition of the India Exclusion Report, released here on Tuesday,  points towards glaring inequalities gripping the nation and delves deeper into the identification of the sites of inequality. Releasing the report, Harsh Mander, Director of Center for Equity Studies, said, “each chapter in it is best seen as evidence-based...

-The Telegraph Of the 87,000 female homicides in 2017, 58 per cent were perpetrated by intimate partners and family members The most dangerous place for women, according to a United Nations report on gender-related killing of women and girls, is their home. Of the 87,000 female homicides in 2017, 58 per cent were perpetrated by intimate partners — past or present — and family members. This throws the cold LIGht of day...

-National Herald It has now come to LIGht that new currency notes with higher ‘security’ features introduced after demonetisation are quickly becoming ‘unusable’ within just two years of circulation It does seem like the PM Narendra Modi-led government simply cannot get anything right. It has now come to LIGht that new currency notes with higher ‘security’ features introduced after demonetisation are quickly becoming 'unusable' within just two years of circulation. According to sources,...

-CNBCTV18.com * The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee mobilised a farmers’ movement in a year. * The trigger was a June 2017 farmers’ agitation in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, where six people died in the midst of violence and police shootings. * In 12 months, the AIKSCC has managed to drive the convergence of farmer groups, including those representing marginalised farmers (women, adivasis and Dalits), apart from the introduction of two Bills. “Farmer...