-AFP   GENEVA: Indian law enforcement and justice authorities have shirked their responsibility to fight sex attacks, a UN child rights watchdog said on Thursday, amid uproar over the horrific gang-rape and lynching of two girls.   "There has been a dereliction of duty in relation to rape cases," said Benyam Mezmur, deputy chairman of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. India has been struggling to overcome its reputation for sexual violence...

-The Hindu Continuous monitoring of remedial MEAsures planned in tribal hamlets Palakkad (Kerala): Three days after The Hindu reported that malnutrition continues to stalk tribal children in Attappady, various government agencies have decided to collectively combat the menace by not just ensuring nutritious food and medicines to the affected children but also ensuring continuous monitoring of the affirmative actions. Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) Director P.V. Radhakrishnan said on Tuesday that a meeting...

-The Hindu   Government policies, vagaries of weather drive them to the wall Anantpur (Andhra Pradesh): The agriculture scenario in the Anantapur district might well be on the path to irreversible damage if unchecked and acted upon with immediate urgency. Over 15 per cent of farmers are leaving agriculture altogether, if the statistics available with the Agriculture Department are to be extrapolated to the ground realities and understood in that context. Speaking to The...

-The Business Standard   Unlike consumer prices, wholesale inflation provides little comfort If the consumer price index (CPI) numbers for May, released last week, provided some comfort about softening inflation, the wholesale price index (WPI) numbers for the same month, released on Monday, did just the opposite. Headline inflation went up from 5.2 per cent year on year in April to six per cent in May, the highest, by a whisker, since December....

-The Indian Express   Five years on, we need to examine our xenophobic reactions and paranoia of the intrusive state. Five years and Rs 4,000 crore ($800mn) later, there is a pregnant pause. "Are you who you claim you are?" is a question that more than 60 crore Indian residents can now answer with integrity. Twenty-three out of the 36 states and Union territories of India can now verify the authenticity of more...