-The Hindu   Neha Khator narrates the story of an NGO that transformed a backward village into a bustling city, with funds, of course, but also by fostering a sense of duty in its residents. Vimla Kanwar, a 70-year-old widow, had a problem. After her husband, a handloom yarn spinner, died of cancer, the officials at the Khadi Gram Udyog took away his charkha. Concerned about finding a means of survival at her...

-The Hindustan Times Free availability of porn movies, on internet and otherwise, as well as sale of illicit liquor have contributed to the recent rise in sexual crimes against women, says a survey by Delhi police. In the wake of the findings, instructions have been issued to all police stations in the city to put an immediate stop on the sale of porn movies and illicit liquor in their respective jurisdictions. They have...

-The Hindu JAGDALPUR: With semi-automatic weapons slung over their shoulders, these soldiers are more than just patrolling arterial village roads. They are in the midst of full-scale battles in which several people, mostly non-combatants, are getting killed. Forces have been mobilised in their thousands; dehydrated soldiers are getting evacuated by the Indian Air Force; corpses are removed in huge tractors meant for transporting farm produce; and Maoists are intensifying coordination at...

-The Hindu Raipur: "The villagers gathered in one particular area for community dining, which is a ritual at this time of the year. It is part of the seed festival and there were no Maoists around. The forces opened fire without any provocation," said a local on condition of anonymity. Locals of Chhattisgarh's Edesmeta village - where at least nine persons were killed during a gun battle late on Friday purportedly between...

-The Hindu Bhopal: Madhuri Krishnaswamy, leader of Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS) which works for health and labour rights in south-western Madhya Pradesh, was remanded in judicial custody for a fortnight on Thursday. Ms. Krishnaswamy, popularly called Madhuri Ben, and four others were summoned by Judicial Magistrate First Class D.P. Singh Sewach in Barwani in connection with a 2008 case of rioting and assaulting a public servant. The police had filed a closure...