-The Hindu   For no crime other than that he stood alongside a crowd demanding the restoration of electricity supply to his village, Altaf Ahmad Sood was shot dead on Monday. This appalling murder, at the hands of a Central Industrial Security Force picket guarding a power installation at Barnait, a village near Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, makes clear the casualness with which central forces reach for their guns against the...

Even as the state government was dealing with the spurt in farmer suicides in Wayanad in 2011, officials informed the central government that no farmer suicides were taking place in Kerala, according to an affidavit filed by the central government in the Kerala High Court on Monday. In a counter-affidavit filed before the high court on a petition seeking relief measures to farmers in Wayanad, the central government quoted the report...

Our democracy is creaking, but it works—nominally at least. What it needs is not dilution, but deepening. When “Too Much Democracy” Works     Pressure in Parliament pushes PM Manmohan Singh to secure the resignation of telecom minister A. Raja in the 2G affair     The angst and trials of tribals in the Maoist bastion of Dantewada is sensed in Delhi after the media highlights their plight     People power at the sites of...

Nearly 11 children go missing in India every hour and at least four of them are never found, according to a study by a child rights organisation. The report by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) covers 392 of India's 640 districts and is the first such comprehensive study on the subject. The data was compiled over two years from January 2008 to January 2010. The report says most of the missing children end up...

Indian politicians appear too sensitive on how they're portrayed online. Why else would government agencies inundate Google - with an estimated 100 million users in India - with requests to remove content, especially those showing political leaders in bad light. Kapil Sibal's suggestion for pre-screening online content may have sparked controversy today, but when it comes to post-screening law enforcement agencies in India have been active. They regularly approach Internet service...