-The New York Times   As politicians scramble for India's 815 million votes in the most expensive and closely contested general election in the nation's history, an unexpected protest is rumbling from what was once one of the country's most placid voter blocs: its farmers. The protest is inflamed by rising attention to the shocking suicide rate on India's hardscrabble farms. Since 1995, more than 290,000 farmers have killed themselves. Though that figure,...

-The Hindustan Times   New Delhi: As over 1.30 lakh people die in road traffic accidents every year in India, the Supreme Court on Tuesday set up a three-member panel to monitor implementation of road safety measures, including emergency medical help to accident victims. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam asked the government to extend better medical facilities made available on an experimental basis on national highways to...

-The Telegraph Shillong: The National Green Tribunal has ordered a stop to rat-hole coal mining across Meghalaya and it observed that neither the government nor the people were benefiting from "illegal mining" except the "coal mafias" while warning against illegal transportation of the mineral. This is the latest instance that a national authority has intervened in the traditional and unscientific form of coal mining that has been the order of the day...

-Outlook   The Delhi High Court today said crimes against women in the national capital occur more often in a few "pockets" of the city, particularly areas which have undergone rapid urbanisation. A bench of acting Chief Justice B D Ahmed and Justice S Mridul made the remarks after going through the crime-mapping charts and tables submitted by Delhi Police pursuant to the court's order to undertake the exercise. "On going through the charts...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: What actions constitute rape? If you are a rape survivor what happens during medical exam? Is the two finger test legal? What information should your FIR on sexual assault contain? Can you afford to delay it? Can you ask for medical assistance but refuse to file a case? Fundamental questions like these are rarely raised by anyone except victims of sexual violence and the answers...