-The Times of India BHOPAL/JABALPUR: The Madhya Pradesh government is compiling a list of convicted sexual offenders to ensure that they do not get government jobs as part of a series of measures to check crimes against women in the state. A government spokesperson said a DSP rank officer will be appointed in each district to check such crimes and that charge-sheets in these cases will be filed within two weeks. There has...

-Outlook India must adopt and enforce measures to ensure the dignified treatment and examination of sexual assault survivors and eliminate the use of 'finger tests' in rape cases, a leading rights body said today amid protests against the brutal rape of a 23-year-old Delhi girl. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the December 16 incident should spur decisive action by the Indian government to combat sexual violence. "It is much harder,...

-The Indian Express The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare has summarily rejected the proposed National Commission for Human Resources in Health Bill (NCHRH) 2011, asking the Health Ministry to draft a fresh Bill giving more space to views of state governments and various stakeholders given that reforms in the sector are “long overdue”. The committee also wants the ministry to include medical research (currently covered by the Higher Education...

-The Hindu The trials and tribulations of Ashok Khemka and Sanjiv Chaturvedi expose Haryana’s intolerance of upright bureaucrats When Haryana’s top land registration official, Ashok Khemka, decided to probe Robert Vadra’s land deals in the State, he perhaps never anticipated the kind of animosity that his actions against Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law would generate within the government. Or, maybe he did, but went ahead nevertheless, hoping that a proactive media would...

-Mainstream Weekly Dr Binayak Sen, an internationally renowned medical practitioner and social activist (a leading figure in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties), was incarcerated in Chhattisgarh and held in detention in Raipur having been branded as a Maoist for his activities in defence of poor tribals in the State. He is now out on bail. The following is the text of the Arvind Narayan Das Memorial Lecture he delivered in...