-PTI The bench also asked the Centre to collect and collate information from drought-hit states on the status of welfare schemes like MGNREGA, National Food Security and mid-day meal. The Supreme Court on Monday came down heavily on certain states for not implementing welfare legislation National Food Security Act, saying that why a state like Gujarat is not implementing the law passed by Parliament. “What is Parliament doing? Is Gujarat not a...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Only seven out of every 100 hundred teachers in colleges and universities across the country were from the Scheduled Castes last year. Those from the Scheduled Tribes were even worse off, numbering only 2 per cent. The grim statistics - included in a government report released last month -leap to relevance against the backdrop of the suicide of Rohit Vemula, the research scholar in the University of Hyderabad. Suggestions...

Seldom rural citizens get the chance to meet high-level officials who are responsible for delivery of public services and implement pro-Poor schemes. But this was made possible thanks to the Accountability Yatra, which is taking place in Rajasthan since December 2015.   It is indeed a rare opportunity to find a District Education Officer (DEO) being asked directly by a simple villager in a public meeting that in how many school...

-Outlook A visit to Bundelkhand reveals a chilling state of affairs—one wrought in equal amount by nature, state negligence and policy failure Her answer still rings in my ears. “Bhaiyya, saawan ke mahine me ek paav daal laye thhe” (Brother, we last bought 250 grams of dal during the rains). I had asked her when was the last time she cooked dal for her family. This was village Mastapur in Tikamgarh...

-The Indian Express Clearly, these suicides are the outcome of Indian Caste System-with-“Untouchability”, still omnipresent and omnipotent, and not a thing of the past, confined only to some remote areas. The significance of what led to Rohith Vemula and many other students belonging to Dalits, Adivasis, and also Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs) to end their life can be understood on the background of socio-historical facts. Clearly, these suicides are the...