-Livemint.com Damage to rabi crops like wheat, mustard has been reported from UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, MP, Maharashtra, Haryana New Delhi: Unseasonal rain and hailstorm in the past few days have damaged winter crops in parts of at least six states across central, north and western India. So far, damage to rabi crops like wheat, mustard and chickpea has been reported from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. It may not...

-Livemint.com Manufacturing is the biggest positive contributor to aggregate employment elasticity in the country, a fact which might appear counter-intuitive to many New Delhi: One of the biggest criticisms of India’s high growth trajectory this century has been its failure to generate jobs. Economists attribute this phenomenon to a decline in employment elasticity of output, which means that the same amount of output growth creates fewer jobs than it used to....

-The Hindu The steps taken towards social democracy are being reversed. What we have now are social insurance policies from above. This subverts the entire project of giving voice to the voiceless. India has paid a heavy price for failing to institutionalise social democracy It is generally agreed that theories of social democracy, in comparison to theories of formal political democracy, take cognisance of background inequalities that hamper the realisation of basic...

-The Financial Express It is expected that the measures announced in the Budget will boost agricultural output and rural incomes It appears that Budget FY17 has not generated enough excitement in media, academics and the masses, including farmers. Currently, farm distress is a serious concern in the country. The livelihood security of the rural population is in peril. Farmers are in dire need of substantial help to come out of the crisis-like...

-Business Standard As many as 47 sedition cases were reported in 2014 across nine states, according to the National Crime Records Bureau The 156-year-old colonial-era sedition law, used against arrested Kanhaiya Kumar, president of the students' union, Jawaharlal Nehru University, has been discarded by the UK (where punishment once included chopping ears), South Korea and Indonesia. Kumar was sent to judicial custody for 14 days, amid violence within and outside a Delhi court...