-Livemint.com A total of 158 farmers killed themselves in July in the state, bringing this year’s toll of farmer suicides to 197, the most since 2003 Bengaluru: The farmer suicide rate in Karnataka has hit the highest level in a decade, highlighting agrarian distress in the state. A total of 158 farmers killed themselves in July alone in the state, government data showed, bringing this year’s toll of farmer suicides to 197,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: About 526 cases of sexual harassment of women at workplace were reported during 2014, the government said on Friday. Of these, 57 cases were reported in office premises and 469 were registered at other places related to work, minister for women and child Development Maneka Gandhi said. She said the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 casts responsibility on the appropriate...

-Livemint.com The problem with the SECC is the absence of cross-tabulations showing the intersections between the seven deprivation sets The original intent of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), whose findings for rural India were made public in June, was to collect information on economic and caste identifiers for access to subsidized food under the National Food Security Act of 2013, and to define a priority set with higher access and...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that the biggest losers of the deadlock over the Centre's land acquisition bill would be Bengal, Odisha and Bihar, sources close to him have said. Whether the bill is blocked or passed in a watered-down version, it will hobble his ambitions of bringing the eastern states on a par economically with the western states, they explained. If the Modi government fails to evolve a...

-The Hindu RTI activist points out irregularities in procurement of biscuits Pune: More allegations of corruption are being made against the Maharashtra Women and Child Development Department (WCD) headed by BJP leader Pankaja Munde, with RTI activists pointing to irregularities in the manufacture and distribution of Ayurvedic biscuits intended a vital source for the nourishment or tribal and underprivileged children living in the State’s backward districts. While the ‘chikki’ scam, whose irregularities have...