-Live Mint Notwithstanding the drought, farmers have preferred to sow sugar cane and rice instead of opting for less water-intensive crops such as coarse grains and pulses. The latest sowing data released by the agriculture ministry as of 16 August shows that area under coarse cereals and pulses is down 13% and 12.39%, respectively, from last year, while that for rice and sugar cane contracted only 3.57% and 4.53%, respectively. In the process,...

-Live Mint In urban India, the ratio of the top and bottom 10% of the economic group increased to 10.9% from 10.1% Economic growth is increasing the income and consumption levels of the average Indian faster than before, but income disparity is getting sharper, especially in the country’s villages, which may require a greater effort aimed at creating jobs in the non-farm sector in rural areas. The increase in inequality is evident from...

-The Times of India A year after trying to provide a dignified life to sex workers, the Supreme Court on Thursday said its orders should not be construed as an encouragement to prostitution. The clarification came from a bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Gyan Sudha Mishra after additional solicitor general P P Malhotra drew the court's attention to its July 19 order in which it had sought suggestions from the SC-constituted...

-The Telegraph Nengkol (South Garo Hills): Twelve-year old Persus S. Marak was at home baby-sitting his three-year old brother when he heard an uproar from below, where the coal quarry was in operation. “I ran down and found one elderly man being brought up in the box...he seemed to be injured, but after that no one was brought out,” Marak told The Telegraph this afternoon, making a cup of tea for himself...

-The Hindu Unsustainable import competition and the end of the investment subsidy that the sale of under-priced resources provided to Indian companies are the main reasons why the economy has slowed down What has been called the ‘golden age’ of India’s economic growth was underpinned by global integration, high rates of investment and savings growth and low current account deficits. The slowdown is characterised by a sharp deceleration in investment growth on...