-Outlook More than 9,700 cases of atrocities against women, including domestic violence and rape, have been registered since April one this year, with Uttar Pradesh seeing the highest number of such cases, the government said today. These many cases have been registered with the National Commission for Women so far this financial year. Giving details in the Lok Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said reasons for violation of women rights...

-Hindustan Times When right to information activist Guru Prasad Shukla was beaten to death by fellow villagers last month, he became the 39th person to lay down his life for exercising the transparency law in its first decade. Another 275 people have reportedly been assaulted or harassed for invoking the law to raise uncomfortable questions before those in power. The 50-year-old Shukla had sought information about development work in his village and...

-The Hindu There is no organised conspiracy against NGOs. It is in the nature of power to exercise greater control, and exempt itself from accountability. The recent changes in the rules governing foreign funding of NGOs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) have been widely discussed. The last word on it will perhaps never be written. The UPA government initiated this and we see some concrete changes now. Sifting through the...

-The Hindu The Executive Director of Greenpeace India, Samit Aich, resigned on Wednesday following an internal review of the organisation’s handling of two sexual harassment cases. A note put on the organisation’s website says that along with Mr. Aich, Programme Director Divya Raghunandan has also resigned. The Greenpeace India Board has also decided to commission a full, independent audit of how the NGO dealt with sexual harassment cases to strengthen internal processes...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A home ministry helpline offering information on quake-hit Nepal has been swamped by Indian farmers airing their distress, embarrassing a government already under the Opposition's cosh for its "anti-farmer" policies. Compounding the discomfiture, most of the callers are demanding the Rs 15 lakh that Narendra Modi had, during last year's election campaign, promised to deposit in every bank account after retrieving black money from abroad, ministry officials said. "We...