The Big Scroll
*Days of rumours around child lifters led to the lynchings in Assam village, reports Arunabh Saikia.
*“We have killed the boy”: Assam lynching victims’ families and friends recall a night of horror, reports Abhishek Dey.
*The lynching of two men in Assam shows the power of rumours across India, writes Ipsita Chakravarty.
Punditry
*Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath’s talk of Dalit reservations in Jamia and Aligarh Muslim University, misunderstands the nature of minority institutions, argues Faizan Mustafa in the Indian Express.
*Reversing women’s decline in the Indian labour force: If more women did paid work, India’s national income would rise dramatically, argues Ajit Ranade in the Mint.
*Turkish republicanism is posing an incoherent challenge to Erdoğan’s mix of nationalism and Sunni internationalism, explain Vijay Prashad and E Ahmet Tonak in the Hindu.
*Dhaka’s transformation of the water services sector, that connects the urban poor to the piped network, has lessons for cities in India, writes Isher Judge Ahluwalia in the Indian Express.
Giggle
Don’t Miss
Twelve Dalit families, including the sarpanch, have left Rudrawadi village in Maharashtra on June 7 citing persecution by members of the Maratha community. Mridula Chari reports on why they don’t want to go home:
“Outraged that the Matang community had dared to file a case against them, the other villagers began to boycott them. All services in the villages were reportedly denied to the community. They were not allowed to access shops or even buy fodder for their cattle. Maharashtra outlawed social boycotts in June 2017.
By May 21, a local human rights organisation, Samajik Nyay Andolan, got involved in the case. Only at this point were 12 people arrested, though they got bail in 15 to 20 days, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Shridhar Pawar. After people of the Matang community villagers held a rasta roko at Udgir town on May 24, the tehsildar of the block distributed three months’ worth of rations to them. Some had to conduct distress sales of their cattle, putting buffalos and goats on the market at half the going rate.
After the situation did not improve, the Matangs finally decided to leave on June 7, returning briefly on June 9 to gather their belongings.”