-IANS For a woman, a toilet is more important than a mobile phone, but men don't understand that, feels Anita Narre. She is the 20-year-old tribal whose rebellion not only ensured a toilet in her marital home but ushered in a sanitation revolution in a backward region of Madhya Pradesh. Last year in May, she had left her in-laws house in Ratanpur village of Betul district after barely two days of marriage...

-The United Nations Recent global events have highLIGhted the fact that journalists and media workers reporting on human rights issues are particularly vulnerable to threats and attacks, an independent United Nations expert said today, calling for greater protection for those who carry out such vital work. “Because of the potential impact on society that journalists and media workers can have by disseminating information about human rights through a wide array of media,...

National Sample Survey Organisation's report on the average calorie intake per person in Indian households points to a much higher incidence of poverty in the country than reflected in estimates of the proportion of the population below the official "poverty" line. Among the features that sully India’s “growth story” is the persistence and possible worsening of malnutrition in the country. The subsistence nutritional intake adopted when defining the official poverty line...

-South Asia Citizens Web Who is under the foreign hand? We strongly deplore the PM’s recent statement that the people’s struggle against Koodankulam nuclear power plant is instigated by foreign agencies and funds. We cannot accept our PM to stoop to such low levels. This allegation is a clear hint from him that the Indian people who could think on their own to elect the Congress-led UPA in the last general election, have...

-Tehelka AFTER A stormy night and a long fLIGht, Rainer Sonntag Hermann reached Essen at 7 pm on 28 February. Hermann is the German tourist who was deported from Chennai the previous day on charges of being involved in the anti-nuke protests at Koodankulam. When TEHELKA tried to contact him via email, he replied, “The last two nights I had no bed and I’m very tired now. So, please allow me...