-Forbes India A look at the crucial issues involved Over the past three years, India has vigorously debated the merits of having a Unique Identity (UID) number for each citizen and, allied with it, the move towards direct cash transfers (DCT) of subsidies (like food, fuel and fertilizer) and social security endowments, like pensions and scholarships. On January 1, India took its first steps towards UID-enabled direct cash transfers. But the move has...

-Economic and Political Weekly The vigorous public discourse following the recent brutal gang rape and mutilation of the 23-year-old in Delhi is a positive sign but hopefully the demand for quick solutions will not ignore the complexities involved in dealing with all forms of violence against women. There are also other connected issues that require urgent attention including the description of a rape as a "state worse than death", making out...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Roiled by a rash of corruption charges, the Maharashtra government appears to be headed for deeper trouble. An investigation has unearthed the involvement of thousands of officials and politicians in a decade-old fraud, in which Rs 101 crore of public funds were siphoned off and disbursed to 1.49 lakh bogus beneficiaries. Of the numerous recipients of the dole meant for the destitute, the probe found, 19,367...

-The Hindu Mid-January last year a fragile, dazed 14-year-old girl walked into the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences Trauma Centre here clutching what looked like a tiny bundle of clothes. Sensing something amiss, the medical staff there immediately swung into action, unfolding what was to be one of the worst reported cases of child assault by a juvenile in the country. Malnourished, pregnant and with a history of being violently abused mentally,...

-The Indian Express At a time when there’s a chorus for showing no leniency to the juvenile among the six arrested for the gangrape of the 23-year-old woman who later died in a Singapore hospital, children’s rights workers are cautioning that laws should not be bent simply because there is public outrage. Minna Kabir, voluntary children’s rights worker who has long been associated with the legal aid cell at the juvenile justice...