-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Social activists and student leaders on Monday launched a national campaign against mob lynching, aimed at demanding a stringent law to prevent such incidents. If the government does not enact a law within a month, they said they would start a countrywide mass campaign from July 11which marks the anniversary of the Una dalit movement. Student leaders Kanhaiya Kumar and Shehla Rashid, social activist and lawyer...

-Livemint.com Conviction rates for crimes against dalits have declined sharply since 2011 The recent clashes between dalits and Thakurs in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh (UP) have once again thrown the spotlight on the deep fault lines in Indian society. While violence against lower caste groups such as dalits or scheduled castes (SCs) has a long history in the country, such crimes have been on the rise over the past few years, data...

-The Economic Times CHENNAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has granted an interim stay on the implementation of rules banning the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at animal fairs — notified by the central government in May — marking the first judicial pronouncement on an issue that has sparked off heated debate countrywide. The court on Tuesday, in response to a public interest litigation filed by Madurai-based...

-Hindustan Times In a semi feudal and genderised society like ours, sexuality remains central everywhere; and rape looks like an indigenous, not an exceptional phenomena. Just days after Jyoti Singh’s killers were sentenced to death by the Supreme Court, on May 11, a similar case of gang rape and murder was reported from Rohtak in Haryana. Within the same week, another 10-year-old from the same area was found repeatedly raped by her stepfather...

-Livemint.com Increasing mechanization and stagnant wages might be behind youth unrest in poll-bound Gujarat As Gujarat prepares for assembly polls scheduled at the end of this year, the big question is whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be able to retain the support which Narendra Modi’s leadership guaranteed. The Hardik Patel-led Patidar agitation and Jignesh Mevani-led dalit protests point towards rising discontent among a section of the youth in the...