-Scroll.in The prime minister’s Independence Day speech was more of a laundry list of achievements, with few new announcements. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Tuesday was not only his shortest Independence Day address so far, it also had little by way of major announcements. Aside from a few one-liners calling for Indians to change their attitudes and for a different approach to Kashmir, Modi’s annual speech from the Red Fort...

-The Hindu Business Line A recent book shows how a cocktail of indebtedness, masculinity and consumerism acts as a trigger. For those who have wondered whether indebtedness can be the sole factor driving farmers to take their lives, here is a book that introduces much needed nuance and complexity to the debate. Nilotpal Kumar’s book, based on a study of 22 suicide cases in Ananthapur district (accompanied by a fascinating ethnographic study...

-NDTV Jean Dreze didn't get to continue his speech anyway and walked back to his seat as Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh took charge. Jharkhand: Development economist Jean Dreze was forced to cut short his speech at a programme in Jharkhand after the state's agriculture minister Randhir Kumar Singh heckled him, reportedly because he was offended at his references to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the BJP's ideological mentor. A day later, several...

-The Hindu Fifty years since the Green Revolution, the architect of the reform highlights the crisis facing Indian agriculture today It is 11 years since agronomist M.S. Swaminathan handed over his recommendations for improving the state of agriculture in India to the former United Progressive Alliance government, at the height of the Vidarbha farmer suicides crisis, but they are still to be implemented. To address the agrarian crisis and farmers’ unrest across...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In what could hurt Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar's claim of corruption-free governance, the Supreme Court has severely criticised the manner in which "influence in high places' was used to subvert law regarding grant of mining lease in the state. Dropping loud hints about its displeasure, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said: "This is a classic case of Sunder Marketing...