-The Telegraph rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has written to the Prime Minister for a rethink on a cabinet committee's recent clearances to two mining projects in Jharkhand's Saranda forests. Ramesh has argued that the projects would harm his ministry's Rs 300-crore development plan for the region, alienate local tribals and weaken the fight to contain the Maoists, a ministry official said. The Prime Minister heads the cabinet committee on infrastructure, which gave...

-The Hindu Kuala Lumpur: The horrific gang-rape of a young paramedical student in New Delhi on December 16, 2012 overshadowed India's achievements at the three-day Women Deliver conference that concluded here on Thursday. The episode figured in discussions held over three days even as the Indian delegates attempted to highlight the successes made in improving the reproductive and child health. On Wednesday morning, when philanthropist Melinda Gates acknowledged the achievements of the Bihar...

-The Business Standard Having quit the National Advisory Council (NAC), Aruna Roy of the Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (MKSS) will intensify the movement to get minimum wages countrywide under the Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Act and a Rs 1,000 a month pension for unorganised labourers. She will also press the government to make it mandatory to have a pre-legislation process for all bills that the government proposes to introduce...

-The Telegraph The Union health ministry has signalled its intentions to go ahead with plans to introduce a cadre of rural health care providers through a new BSc course, ignoring objections from a parliamentary panel. The ministry told Delhi High Court this week that it had sent a draft cabinet note on the three-and-a-half-year course in community health to the Prime Minister's Office for comments. This is standard procedure before the matter...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Four million households in Maoist-affected districts are likely to get BPL status without having to wait for another two years when the Socio-Economic Caste Census is expected to be completed. The list of BPL will be revised based on the findings of the census. The shortcut inclusion in the 82 Maoist-affected districts is aimed at making the poor, who fell between the cracks of the poverty...