-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-Greater Kashmir JAMmu: Notwithstanding the pitiable condition of rural sanitation across J&K, the state government has not been able to utilize generous central funding under Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), which has now been renamed as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA), in the past three years. In the year 2010-11, out of total available funds of Rs 2373.18 lakhs, the concerned state government agencies could expend only Rs 1715.26 lakhs. The situation noticed a...

-The Hindustan Times Real Heroes, a CNN-IBN initiative in partnership with Hindustan Times, celebrates the extraordinary service of India's ordinary citizens every year. This year, the awards will felicitate 13 women who fought hard and conquered all obstacles to make a difference. Today we share four such stories. * Bhanwari Devi It's a name that's synonymous with the women's movement in India. And yet justice continues to elude Bhanwari Devi. Brutally raped in 1992 for reporting...

-The Hindu     Court asks Jharkhand government to submit action taken report Ranchi: There were protests here on Friday against the alleged rape and killing of a six-year-old girl who went missing on Wednesday and was found dead with strangulation marks on her neck and injuries on her genitals in the early hours of Thursday in Doranda. The girl, a student of class II, went missing soon after she returned home from school...

-The Indian Express Stating that all security forces personnel accused of crimes against civilians will not necessarily be tried only by their courts, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that criminal courts can also have jurisdiction in such cases. Setting aside the orders of a lower court and high court in JAMmu and Kashmir, a bench led by Justice C K Prasad Thursday ordered that the trial of two BSF personnel, accused...