-The Times of India A fact-finding team of 21 rights groups alleged that joint forces comprising CRPF and state police "killed 17 villagers in cold blood" at Sarkeguda on June 28. "It was plain slaughter that night near Sarkeguda," said Asish Gupta, convener of Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations (CDRO) on Wednesday. The team visited the encounter site at Sarkeguda on July 6 and 7. Speaking to reporters, Gupta said, "There were no...

-Kafila.org Almost a century ago, Katherine Mayo published a book titled ‘Mother India’ that criticized the Indian way of living, and Rudyard Kipling  spoke of the ‘White Man’s Burden’. These writings reflected the colonial perspective that what colonizers did was in the best interest of the colonized people. Consequently, most well-meaning citizens of colonial powers were alienated from the horrible plight of the colonized. Purpose well served – unopposed exploitation. Years later,...

-The Economic Times A social activist has filed a case in the Delhi High Court alleging that the US-based Walmart is carrying retailing to the end consumer through Bharti Retail, a Bharti Enterprises group company.  The high court has sent notices to Bharti Walmart, Bharti Retail as well as the central government, seeking their replies on the petition filed by environmental activist Vandana Shiva. Bharti Walmart is a 50:50 wholesale retail joint...

Census 2011 data bring into the open Maharashtra’s terrible record in sex-selective abortions. In early June, Vijaymala Patekar, a mother of four girls, haemorrhaged to death at a hospital in Parli, Beed district, Maharashtra. She was reportedly in her second trimester of pregnancy. Her family had allegedly forced her to abort the foetus when they learnt it was a girl child. Sudam Munde, the doctor who performed the procedure, fled Parli but...

-The Times of India Rice isn't the diet villain as commonly thought. In fact, two types of rice commonly consumed by India's middle classes have now been found to have the lowest Glycemic Index (GI) — the measure of its ability to raise blood sugar levels after eating -- when compared with 233 other types of rice consumed around the world. Swarna and Mahsuri's GI levels were below 55. Another favourite among...