-The Hindu Bengaluru: With heightened concern over the impact of excessive use of technology — especially social media addiction — on mental health in our cities, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) is planning to come up with an Urban Mental Health Plan. Revealing this at the 20th convocation of NIMHANS here on Saturday, institute Director B.N. Gangadhar said the current district mental health plan largely catered to issues...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Only seven out of every 100 hundred teachers in colleges and universities across the country were from the Scheduled Castes last year. Those from the Scheduled Tribes were even worse off, numbering only 2 per cent. The grim statistics - included in a government report released last month -leap to relevance against the backdrop of the suicide of Rohit Vemula, the research scholar in the University of Hyderabad. Suggestions...

-The Indian Express Clearly, these suicides are the outcome of Indian Caste System-with-“Untouchability”, still omnipresent and omnipotent, and not a thing of the past, confined only to some remote areas. The significance of what led to Rohith Vemula and many other students belonging to Dalits, Adivasis, and also Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs) to end their life can be understood on the background of socio-historical facts. Clearly, these suicides are the...

-Hindustan Times A Dalit scholar at the University of Hyderabad killed himself on Sunday night, nearly two weeks after he and four other students were suspended by authorities and thrown out of the hostel, triggering charges of casteism. The students were on a protest strike in front of the hostel since the expulsion that followed an argument and scuffle between members of some campus groups and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. That strike has...

-The Hindu The National Democratic Alliance government has just introduced a cess of 0.5 per cent on all taxable services for the Swachh Bharat campaign. In February 2016, it will introduce a 2 per cent cess on airfares for all domestic flyers except those flying to remote locations, and international travellers. This cess is meant to fund losses that airlines may incur in connecting to hinterland locations. The Central government loves...