-The Hindu There has been a systemic breakdown in the justice delivery system The critics of the Aarushi murder case seem unable to see the wood for the trees. The focus of endless debate on the case has been on an inadequate appreciation of evidence and the role of the media in cases of this nature. The main issue appears to have been missed - the fact that the overcooked scrutiny is...

-The Indian Express Patna: In September, 43,477 primary and middle school contractual teachers recruited by the Bihar government took the mandatory "competency test", which is based on the syllabi of classes 3-5. Of these, 10,614 teachers, or about 24 per cent, failed the test. The state government has recruited over 2.5 lakh contractual teachers since it launched its mega drive to fill the vacancies in 2007. These teachers get two chances to...

-Down to Earth Expresses concern over alcohol brands being advertised in violation of rules India is emerging as the favourite destination for alcohol promotion of marketing companies. Their new targets are women and youth, who at present comprise a very small percentage of alcohol consumers in India. These are the observations made by a report-Alcohol Marketing and Regulatory Policy Environment in India-put out by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). It...

-The Hindu The pressure to furnish proof, the fear of fighting a superior, the likely impact on career, and adverse publicity prevent women from reporting sexual harassment An employee of Tehelka accuses Tarun Tejpal, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine, of sexually assaulting her during an event organised in Goa, and the police file a first information report. A law intern claims she was sexually harassed by a retired judge of...

-The Indian Express On the surface, the sugar crisis in Uttar Pradesh may seem to be inching closer to a resolution. But cane farmers may have unwittingly mortgaged their land, signing up for crop loans from public sector banks, with the money so raised being used by the mills to pay arrears of a different set of farmers. This model, of mills rotating working capital loans from banks, to deliver pending payouts...