-Contributed by the India Country Office and the Legal Vice Presidency What does a parent from one of India’s historically marginalized castes do when his child is not allowed to sit with others in class? Or, if during the mid-day meal at school, his dishes are kept separate from others? Whom does a young mother turn to when a health worker refuses to enter her house? Where does she go when...

-BBC   Indian media have criticised the government for failing to ensure the security of author Salman Rushdie after threats of violence prevented him from addressing an Indian literary festival. Rushdie cancelled a video-link call to the festival after Muslim groups threatened to disrupt proceedings. The author blamed politicians for failing to oppose the groups for "narrow political reasons". Many Muslims regard his book, The Satanic Verses, as blasphemous. It was banned in India in 1988...

-The United Nations Cooperatives and producer organizations will be increasingly important in efforts to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today. “FAO needs strong cooperatives and producer organizations as key partners in the effort to eliminate hunger for some 925 million people, and to respond to the many challenges that face our world today,” said Director-General José Graziano da Silva. He told...

The Jaipur Literary Festival, a giddily chaotic celebration of the written word set on the grounds of a Rajasthan palace, ended in misery and embarrassment today, with the organizers bowing to pressure from local security forces and scotching plans for Salman Rushdie to “appear” at the festival, finally, by video link. Rushdie had already been forced to cancel plans to come to Jaipur after he had received intelligence reports—bogus intelligence,...

India will soon ban blood tests to detect tuberculosis (TB) that are widely available across the country.  An expert group set up by the Drug Controller General of India has found that blood tests are mostly inaccurate for TB detection. It has recommended to the Union health ministry to immediately ban them.  A ministry official said "The DCGI had set up an eight-member committee to look at whether a proposal by the...