-The Indian Express Mumbai: Residents of Mumbra, a suburb northeast of Mumbai and known to many as the place where Ishrat Jahan lived, suffer from a feeling of insecurity and a perception of discrimination, according to a study commissioned by the Maharashtra government's minority development department. The preliminary findings of the 2011 study, conducted by Dr Ranu Jain of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, were presented to the government Friday. The study,...

-The Hindustan Times Though BJP's new poll mascot Narendra Modi's selling of the Gujarat growth model for India looks fine in diatribe, it is not equitable and is tilted in favour of the rich. And this may be the Planning Commission's message to Modi when he visits Yojana Bhawan on June 18 to finalise Gujarat's annual plan for 2013-14. The panel's latest socio-economic data gives an insight into the truth of what...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre is mulling setting up five universities with 50% seats reserved for religious minorities, a "Muslim outreach" by Congress ahead of the 2014 elections. The universities will come up in the hubs of Muslim and Christian population in five states. "These universities will have 50% reservation for minorities with socio-economic backwardness as key determinant. Minorities are not just religious groups but also social groups as...

-Countercurrents.org   The events of last over two decades have shown us, more than before that the efforts of dividing the nation by communal forces have been a major obstacle to social peace and process of development. In India while the communal violence began with the Jabalpur riot of 1961, it is from last couple of decades especially from 1980s that the divisive politics has tried to drive a wedge between different...

-The Hindu   Last week's jail sentence for two prominent Shiv Sainiks is historic as it upholds the first such conviction against a member of that party Sent to jail for two months and fined Rs.5,000. Twenty years after their crime, this was the sentence handed down last week by a sessions court to two Shiv Sena leaders. This was for their provocative speeches during the Mumbai riots following the demolition of the...