-The Hindu Students turn up for classes but find errant school closed The Oxford English School on Nandini Layout, where the tuft of hair of some children admitted under the Right to Education quota for the disadvantaged children were snipped to distinguish them from the rest, remained closed on Thursday, even as protests were staged in front of it. In the morning, children who came to the school were turned away by the...

-The Telegraph This is one ascent to the top Bengal could have done without. The National Crime Records Bureau has put the state at the top of the list of crimes against women. According to the bureau’s latest report — for 2011 — Bengal accounted for nearly 12.7 per cent of the total number of crimes against women registered in India. Of them, 2,363 were cases of rape. The report has come at a...

-The Economist HOW should one judge the lot of women in India, a country that is in many ways progressive, modern, tolerant and yet by turns repressive and hostile? Women hold the highest political positions (the presidency, speaker of parliament, leader of the ruling party, leader of the opposition in parliament, several chief ministers of large states) and in theory they are protected by a variety laws promoting equality. Though development indicators...

Chennai comes up with innovative ideas. ‘Prime Point,' set up by a gentleman known in true Tamil Nadu-style as ‘Prime Point Srinivasan,' has instituted a set of awards for parliamentarians called Sansad Ratna Awards. ‘PP' felicitously chose Ambedkar Jayanti for the conferment ceremony this year and conferred the honour on four MPs: Anand Rao Adsul — Number 1 in Questions (754). The total tally of debates, private bills and questions raised...

Conservation measures have taken away the traditional livelihoods of nomadic tribes in Karnataka. AT a short distance from the world famous monuments at Hampi is the village of Hulihaidar in the fertile region of the “rice bowl of Karnataka” in Gangavathi taluk in Koppal district. Local residents say it was an important town in the Vijayanagara empire (1336-1646 C.E.) and the seat of a local lord. Today it is home to...