-The Hindu Tech-savvy teens develop alternative social networking platforms for the Valley Srinagar: A bright and windy day, when tourists were out and about in Srinagar, turned dark in minutes. Shops and schools shut, children rushed home, police swarmed the streets and internet links snapped, as news of top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sabzar Bhat’s death broke. But amidst the chaos, two teens were busy making plans to attract more traffic to their...

-The Financial Express The current agitation of farmers on cereal, oilseeds and vegetables has attracted a lot of analysis with regards to the causes. Many such analyses have converged on low hikes in MSP in the last three-four years as the major cause, and the general public also believes so. Stocking limits, poor warehousing facilities, export bans, lack of a properly developed food processing industry and free trade in commodity exchanges...

-Livemint.com Burden of farm loans has driven many Karnataka farmers into the clutches of moneylenders, who at times charge even by the hour Bengaluru: Naveen Kumar, 40, a small farmer in Hassan district, Karnataka, paid Rs.2,400 as premium (Rs.1,200 per acre) to insure his jowar crop last year. The crop failed after deficient rains. But Kumar was covered—or so he thought. Earlier this year, he received Rs1,600 (Rs800 per acre) as compensation—33% less...

-The Hindu Business Line ‘Odd’ monsoon path upsets crop cycle, slows down sowing Ahmedabad: Farmers in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra are a worried lot as the ‘monsoon watch’ gets longer in the key growing regions, affecting the sowing of kharif crops. According to the latest available data, farmers in Gujarat have completed sowing on about 8.71 lakh hectares, which is more than double the 2.74 lakh hectares sown by about...

-The Telegraph The Narendra Modi government's record in tacitly supporting the actions of a bunch of vigilante thugs who have been terrorizing the country, especially the Muslims and the Dalits, in the guise of gau rakshaks, or opponents of love jihad, or 'nationalists', has been so outrageous that it has grabbed all the critical attention. In the process, the government's abysmal failures in other spheres have gone virtually unnoticed. One such...