-The Hindu Some of the country's most prominent para-athletes, Bhopal gas leak victims and campaigners have called on the Union Government to boycott the upcoming London Olympics unless Dow Chemical is dropped as sponsor. “All Indian para-athletes should boycott London Paralympics-2012 until Dow Chemical is dropped as a sponsor. The Indian Olympics Association and the Sports Ministry of India should show much stronger protests against this sponsorship,” said Haryana Paralympic Association secretary...

For the Government of India the first phase of the national solar mission has been a grand success. It not only managed to attract industry to invest in the generation of an energy considered costly, but also dramatically drove down the cost of producing this energy. In its celebration, little did the government realise that a major conglomerate had subverted rules to acquire a stake in the solar mission much...

Concerned over the spate of crimes allegedly for the sake of "honour", a government panel wants a comprehensive standalone law to punish those who kill or harass young couple from exercising their right to choose their partners.  The recommendation for a comprehensive legislation to stop honour killings stems from the recognition of the absence of specific provisions in the Indian Penal Code, which deal with acts of harassment in the name...

The hunger and malnutrition situation in the country has shown marginal improvement, according to the HUNGaMA report. ONE area that has always bothered policymakers in a growth-obsessed economy is the state of the social sector, in particular figures indicating the numbers of people going hungry or are homeless and children who are out of school, the poor nutritional status of women and children, and the high infant and maternal mortality rates....

Farmers across the country are entitled to get Rs 1,080 a quintal (100kg) asminimum support price for paddy. But surprisingly, a team from the Centre that visited Bihar and Uttar Pradesh last week found that theFood Corporation of India (FCI) was paying nearly 30% less. With little procurement taking place in these states, farmers have been left with no option but to go for distress sale. The result: In procurement centres...