-The Hindu An independent all-woman criminal justice system for acts of violence against women would stand a better chance of enabling equitable justice than one dominated by patriarchal insensitivity. What more can I say about the unconscionable event that took place on the night of December 16 in Delhi that has not already been said or written about over the last fortnight? Every conceivable aspect of the brutal rape and the reactions...

-The Hindu There is no room for complacency that India has eliminated this crippling disease as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have recorded a high incidence of a condition symptomatic of it Identifying children who suddenly display muscle weakness, often not moving one or more of their limbs as a result, forms the cornerstone of polio surveillance. Such children could have “acute flaccid paralysis” (AFP) that is symptomatic of polio, a disease caused...

-The Hindu ICAR “shielding errant officials” by delaying the report In a damning indictment of the way some Bt cotton varieties were developed and commercialised in the country, a committee headed by Prof. S.K. Sopory, Vice-Chancellor of JNU, found that indigenous Bikaneri Nerma (BN) Bt cotton variety was contaminated by a gene patented by Monsanto. Having found lapses in the “BNLA106 event”, the committee has held as “invalid” the data obtained from bio-safety...

-The Hindu THE SUNDAY STORY An analysis of the output from 18 different global climate models indicates that India’s average annual surface air temperature could go up by between four degrees Celsius and seven degrees Celsius by the end of this century. The warning signs are already out there. Global air and ocean temperatures have risen in response to human-driven emissions, particularly of carbon dioxide. Oceans have become more acidic and the...

-io9.com Wheat and grain-based foods are all around us. We love our bagels, pasta, bread, and breakfast cereals. For many, the thought of eliminating these staples from our diets seems wholly unreasonable, if not ludicrous. But a growing number of people are switching to wheat-free diets — and for very good reason. As science is increasingly showing, eating wheat increases the potential for a surprising number of health problems. Here's why...