-The Hindu The focus must be on enhancing rape conviction rates and taking steps to rehabilitate and empower survivors Amid belligerent demands for capital punishment for rapists, on Sunday the President signed an ordinance that introduces the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12. But this clamour for introducing the most stringent punishment has conveniently sidestepped the more cogent criticism of the systemic failures in addressing...

-Newsclick.in The government has chosen not to intervene in the market prices of the seasonal crops, forcing farmers to deal with the debt and the crisis on their own. Despite the Maharashtra government’s farm loan waiver scheme to “settle” the agrarian debts of farmers, the number of farmers committing suicide in the state continues to rise. The state has witnessed a total of 696 farmer suicides in the initial three months of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A group of 637 academics from India and abroad have come out in solidarity with the 49 retired civil servants who recently expressed their outrage at the Kathua and Unnao rape incidents blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for belatedly speaking up on the issue and claiming his dispensation wasn’t doing enough to stop the “pattern of repeated targeted Attacks on minority religious communities, Dalits, tribals...

-Hindustan Times Citizens for Green Doon on Tuesday submitted a PIL to the NGT demanding an environment impact assessment of all-weather roads connecting the Char Dhams in Uttarakhand Dehradun: A non-government organisation, Citizens for Green Doon (CFGD), on Tuesday submitted a public interest litigation (PIL) to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) demanding an environment impact assessment (EIA) of all-weather roads connecting the Char Dhams in Uttarakhand. After submission of the PIL, the tribunal...

-The Hindu Jaitley blames ‘spurt in demand’; Congress recalls note ban Amidst reports of a cash crunch from different parts of the country, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government was “tackling the issue quickly” to overcome a “temporary shortage” caused by a sudden spurt in demand. But with hash tags #cashcrunch and #ATM trending on Twitter all day, Opposition leaders launched a scathing Attack on the government. Minister’s assurance Responding to the currency...