Poverty forces sex workers to sell their bodies, the Supreme Court said on Monday and directed the Centre and states to impart vocational training to them so that they could earn a livelihood. "A woman is compelled to indulge in prostitution not for pleasure but because of abject poverty. If such a woman is granted opportunity to avail some technical or vocational training, she would be able to earn her livelihood...

I was awakened early one morning recently by someone who said he was enormously enjoying my on-going debate on economic growth in India. I was very pleased that I had given someone some joy, but I also wondered what on earth he could be talking about, since I have not been involved in any such debate. As it happens, I am getting a steady stream of telephone calls and electronic...

The CID, on Monday, arrested two CPM activists wanted in connection with the Netai killings near Lalgarh which took place on January 7. Acting on a tip-off , the detectives picked up the duo -- Aswini Chalak and Abani Bhusan Singh --from a house in Midnapore town. A senior CID official said on Monday that both the arrested persons were local CPM leaders in Lalgarh and had been absconding since January...

An RTI activist, Mahabir Singh, paid a heavy price for exposing a racket at Chandrawal Village of Fatehabad district in Haryana. Mahabir and some of his friends had filed RTIs to find out more about the Sarpanch and others usurping pension money. They then complained to the district officers, but when nothing happened, they approached the court, that registered a case against the Sarpanch, district social-welfare officer and 14 others. In retaliation, the...

Scale Up Nutrition coordinates global action to root out under-nutrition. This week in New Delhi, nearly 1,000 international officials, scientists, advocates and development specialists are coming together to discuss how agriculture can be leveraged to improve nutrition and health. Nearly one-sixth of the people in our world are affected by chronic hunger. At any time, around a quarter of all children suffer from under-nutrition. Not only are they more likely to die,...