-The Indian Express MHA’s decision to replicate the Chhattisgarh model in all Maoist-affected states is timely Taking a cue from the Chhattisgarh police’s efforts to socially rehabilitate Maoists cadres who have surrendered, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has issued an advisory saying that all Naxal-affected states should facilitate reverse vasectomy operations for Maoists who wish to join the mainstream. The states should bear the medical costs for the operation, which will...

-The Times of India They stay in cramped prison spaces with minimum facilities at their disposal. But they're not criminals. They are the children of women who have been convicted or are facing trial. Over 800 children up to the age of six are languishing in prisons across seven states and union territories, including Delhi, for no fault of their own. Sadly, the juvenile justice system is yet to make room...

-The Telegraph Nisha Kumari, a Class VIII student in Uttar Pradesh, has taken her school to court because it charges fees her father cannot afford. The Dalit girl from Hathras district today petitioned Allahabad High Court to direct the government-run Girls’ Inter College in Sasni to stop charging her — or any other student — any fee till they reach Class IX. Else, Nisha’s petition said, she may have to drop out of...

-The Hindu The proposal for an urban health initiative with focus on primary health care for the urban poor has been cleared by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) and will soon be placed before the Cabinet. This was announced by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad during a meeting of the Mission Steering Group of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) here on Tuesday. There has been an on-going tussle...

-The Hindu One in eight people, or 12.5 per cent of the world’s population, is chronically undernourished today says the latest State of Food Insecurity (SOFI) report. The grave ethical and practical implications of this abominable statistic from the three Rome-based United Nations agencies are obvious. Not least because mass hunger is a man-made phenomenon. Historically, hunger and starvation have been caused not by shortfalls in food production but rather by...