-Frontine Walmart’s disclosure that it spent huge amounts of money on lobbying in India and the allegation that it entered the retail sector through indirect means highlight the power of global capital in dictating the country’s policies. The world’s largest multi-brand retailer Walmart’s disclosure to the United States Senate that it had spent $25 million (Rs.135 crore) since 2008 on its various lobbying activities, which include enhancing access to the Indian...

-Outlook Notwithstanding repeated attacks by Maoists, the Centre has decided to counter ultras through its development efforts in Naxal-affected areas as it believes such efforts will weaken the Red base. "We are making a special effort to bring development in the Naxal-affected areas. We are hoping that it will pay dividend," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh told PTI. Ramesh's contention comes just days after Naxalites planted a bomb inside the stomach of a...

-Bloomberg.com One of the most obscene moments after the death of the gang-rape victim in New Delhi was a tweet by Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, offering regret and condolences to the dead woman’s family. Modi, who has quelled restive minorities by allowing attackers to subject women to unspeakable horrors, has done more than any man to numb his prudish country to sexual violence. Yet he...

-AFP Delegations from some 140 countries agreed on Saturday to adopt a ground-breaking treaty limiting the use and emission of health-hazardous mercury, the U.N. said, though environmental activists lamented it did not go far enough. The world’s first legally binding treaty on mercury, reached after a week of thorny talks, will aim to reduce global emission levels of the toxic heavy metal, also known as quicksilver, which poses risks to human health...

-The Hindu “In the present case, it may be that the prosecutrix (victim) had given a correct statement before the learned magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC). But while deposing in this court she has given a statement absolutely contrary to her earlier statement U/s 164 Cr.PC, then of course, a serious doubt arises about the credibility of such a witness. A witness who is not a...