-The Hindu Liberalisation has eroded the institutional capacity to train young people who might pursue liberal values The other day, a student asked me what exactly the word ‘liberal’ mean. She wanted to know whether ‘liberalisation’ promotes ‘liberal’ values. She had noticed that institutions of HIgher Education, which are supposed to promote liberal values, were finding it difficult to resist ideological and commercial pressures triggered by the process of economic liberalisation. So,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A gram panchayat's success in reducing poverty will be judged by the number of households with over Rs 20,000 in savings bank accounts or percentage of families with Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. Or, by the percentage of its households which have availed over Rs 20,000 as bank credit. Interestingly, higher the number of households with bank loans for "diversified livelihood", the better the village would be assessed...

-BBC Why are millions of women dropping out of work in India? The numbers are stark - for the first time in India's recent history, not only there was a decline in the female labour participation rate, but also a shrinking of the total number of women in the workforce. * Nearly 20 million Indian women quit work between 2004-05 to 2011-12 * The labour force participation rate for women of working age declined...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Apart from tackling law and order, the Yogi Aditya Nath government in Uttar Pradesh has a tough challenge ahead as the country's most populous state has slipped on most social and economic parameters due to decades of unstable governments and rule by regional outfits. Realising that UP must develop for India to progress, the Modi government has asked the Niti Aayog to assist the state in...

-The Times of India While there is no denying that the regressive practice of triple talaq needs to end, just how prevalent is it in the Muslim community and how are divorce and separation handled in other religious communities? The share of divorced women is indeed high among Muslims — 5 for every 1,000 ever married women, according to Census 2011. This is twice the rate among Hindus, but almost the same...