-The Hindu Mysore (Karnataka): The much-lauded biometric ration card system is believed to be fool proof and expected to bring the public distribution system (PDS) in step with the digital era. However, ironically, the feedback from the ground indicates that it is rejecting the poor and the impoverished it was intended to benefit. The biometric authentication system installed at the PDS outlets fails to establish the identity of many genuine beneficiaries, mostly...

-The Indian Express On Friday afternoon, Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna will sentence the four men he found guilty in the December 16 gangrape case, bringing to an end a fast-track trial closely followed across the country. Of the 23 rape cases Khanna heard this year at the Saket court, this is only the third to result in conviction. In 20 cases, the accused were let off, mainly because the evidence...

-The Hindu Geeta Dharmarajan, founder of Katha, which has just completed 25 years of reaching out to the unreached in the National Capital. Scrolling down the students' blog of Katha, the non-profit organisation in the National Capital which runs schools for underprivileged children living in 248 slums, I come across a complaint letter by a child addressed to the Chairman, Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The child wants to bring to his notice...

-The Times of India Ever since data released earlier this year showed that in the past 15 years, global average temperatures had not risen as fast they had earlier, there has been much hue and cry. Climate change sceptics naturally seized upon this to declare that they had been proved right. Last month, leaked portions of the forthcoming IPCC report, too, were reported by Western media outlets to contain this...

-CNN-IBN Mumbai: The trial in the Delhi gangrape-murder case has set an example for other cases of crimes against women. Soon after the verdict, the Maharashtra Home Minister announced that the trial in the Mumbai gangrape case will also be fast-tracked. But an RTI query filed by CNN-IBN exposes the dismal records of fast-track courts. An assurance was made by the Maharashtra government soon after the photojournalist was gangraped in Mumbai's Shakti...