-The Times of India Last week, a Hyderabad court acquitted 10 accused in the 2005 Hyderabad suicide bomber case. The blast had earlier been pinned on the Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI) of Bangladesh, but the police's special investigation team could not back its claims. While most newspapers and TV channels reported the news, the hardship suffered by the 10 Muslim men who languished for 12 years in prison, was largely buried. Twocircles.net,...

-The Indian Express The failure of populist rural credit schemes stems primarily from poor understanding of farm indebtedness in the first place. From the 1970s, a lot of private investment in tube-well irrigation, farm mechanisation and allied agricultural activities took place with bank credit support. After the establishment of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1982, institutional credit flows not only accelerated, but also exhibited diversification to fund livestock...

-Livemint.com Farm loan waivers will strain the finances of states, and harm both farmers and banks over the long run In its policy statement released last week, the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pointed out that the implementation of farm loan waivers across states could hurt the finances of states and make them throw good money after bad, and stoke inflation. How much of an impact will...

-The Indian Express In 2016, south interior Karnataka recorded 22 per cent deficit rainfall during the southwest monsoon season (June-September). Reservoir levels in the Cauvery basin have fallen lower with back-to-back monsoon failure and Karnataka is headed to Assembly elections in barely eight months. If Maharashtra, particularly Marathwada, was the epicentre of drought in 2014 and 2015, that has now seemingly shifted deep southward to a stretch covering the old Mysore region...

-The Indian Express The decision on compulsory counting of paper trail slips, which was approved by the full Commission before Nasim Zaidi retired as the Chief Election Commissioner on Wednesday, is a response to the demand made by political parties at a meeting held by the EC on May 12. In a bid to further reinforce the credibility of electronic voting machines, the Election Commission (EC) has decided to mandatorily tally...