-The Indian Express It’s not as if the Centre cannot initiate reforms in agriculture. In fact, in at least three major areas, the onus for leadership and action lies with the Centre. For over a year, there have been news reports of Niti Aayog, the erstwhile Planning Commission’s new avatar, working on a wide-ranging reform package for India’s farm sector. In recent months, teasers have appeared hinting at the Centre’s plans of...

-The Hindu If the data on juvenile crime are anything to go by, the annual reports of the National Crime Records Bureau cannot be taken at face value. The National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) annual round-up of crime statistics has in recent years been the subject of extensive media coverage. The parsing of the official data, however, tends to be a superficial exercise, focussing on the big numbers instead of the minutiae. Numbers...

-The Indian Express Share of Muslims in official 3.7 lakh ‘beggar’ population is disproportionately larger than the community’s share in country’s population, show Census data. Mumbai: Muslims make up 14.23% of India’s population. They are, however, nearly 25% of the 3.7 lakh individuals who have been listed as beggars by the Government of India. Activists claim that the data — released last month — on the religious orientation of those deemed ‘non workers’...

-The Hindu Nine days for release, the sole inhabitant fears losing benefits New Delhi: Arvind Singh is not a beggar, but he chooses to be seen as one. For three months now, the 60-year-old with sunken cheeks and arched eyebrows has been the only resident of Delhi government’s shelter for 1,525 beggars at Lampur, Narela. The single-storied home on 22 acres shares a compound with the Foreigners Detention Centre. There are nearly 70 rooms...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Within a year of its inception, Mahoba's Roti Bank has grown. It now takes home-cooked rotis and vegetable to almost 1,000 persons twice a day. A humble beginning by group of 40 youths and five elders in April 2015 under the aegis of Bundeli Samaj, roti bank has turned into a model for many do-gooders across India. "We get at least 2-3 calls everyday from people who...