-The Hindu Historians, academics join growing protests Mumbai/ New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi came under a severe attack from civil society as scientists, filmmakers, artists, writers and historians joined hands in censuring the government for its ‘failure to address the rising intolerance and inability to maintain peace in society.’ Eminent scientist and founder director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, P.M. Bhargava told The Hindu on Thursday that he would...

-The Hindu Business Line Government surveys on out-of-school children are gross underestimations. The Census numbers, however, are a shocker Census 2011 showed that about 32 million children aged between 6 and 13 years have never attended any educational institution, even though government estimates of out-of-school children show substantially lower numbers. Given that out-of-school numbers consist of both children who dropped out and those who never attended school, it raises some questions over...

-Hindustan Times The Supreme Court has decided to examine Islamic personal law to consider doing away with provisions biased against Muslim women, often victims of polygamy and the triple talaq system, a controversial move that may upset a section of the community that has resisted reform. A bench of justices AR Dave and AK Goel requested Chief Justice of India HL Dattu to constitute an appropriate bench and address the issue to...

-The Hindu In Bihar, ‘development’ comes laced with caste. For the upper castes, it is Modi’s pitch on investment that matters while for Backward Classes, Nitish’s social welfare agenda makes him a governance icon. The BJP, having no regional match for Nitish, has banked on Modi’s popularity. “Development” is a word that one encounters frequently across poll-bound Bihar, with people across caste lines using it to explain their political preferences. However, this...

-Livemint.com More than 80 million people eat beef/buff in India, including 12.5 million Hindus The lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly storing and consuming beef a few weeks ago has sparked a heated debate about banning the meat. Predictably, battle lines have also been drawn around religious groups. But data from the latest National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) round shows that around 80 million people—around 1 of every...