-Outlook A Delhi court today framed charges against Irom Sharmila Chanu, who has been on fast for about 12 years demanding repeal of controversial AFSPA, for allegedly attempting to commit Suicide during her 'fast until death' here in 2006. Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Akash Jain framed charges against 40-year-old Chanu under section 309 (attempting to commit Suicide) of the IPC after she refused to plead guilty, saying that her's was a non-violent protest. Putting...

-The Times of India PUNE: In view of the increasing need for skilled manpower in the mental heath sector, the state health department has decided to train health workers at the village level and incorporate them in the mental health services. "At present, about 6,000 people with different mental illnesses can take treatment at four regional mental hospitals in the state. Even if the strength of health workers is increased, it would...

-The Indian Express Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government on Tuesday tabled an irrigation Bill in the Assembly which seeks to make it compulsory for farmers to get a licence to draw water from canal or ground well beyond a certain limit and prescribes penal action, including imprisonment, against the errant farmers. The Bill also seeks to charge farmers for irrigation water reaching any cultivated land within 200 metres of a canal either by...

-Business Today What does the proposed food security law mean for the government's finances? Most days, around half a dozen middleaged men in Tamil Nadu's Nemam village head for a slushy pond. They are farm labourers who have had little work for the past few months because of a drought in their Tiruvarur district. As an alternative they catch fish, but the income from it is not enough to survive on. "But...

-The Hindustan Times As India debates ‘capital punishment’ for rapists, millions of men maintain that ‘corporal punishment’ is the right sentence for a wife who serves chai gone cold. Since it is often invisible, violence committed by husbands has escaped public outrage. Crimes such as beating, punching and forced sex usually go unpunished because it is common belief that a husband has the right to punish his wife.   Though we do...