-PTI From April 2017-March 2018, the punctuality of mail and express trains was 71.39%, down from 76.69% in the corresponding period of 2016-2017 New Delhi: Almost 30% of trains ran late in financial year 2017-18, Indian Railways’ worst punctuality performance in three years, according to official data. From April 2017-March 2018, the punctuality of mail and express trains was 71.39 per cent, down from 76.69 per cent in the corresponding period of 2016-2017,...

-Hindustan Times After Tamil Nadu’s pioneering Amma canteens, many states have started community kitchens, such as Karnataka’s Indira Canteens. This is a welcome development. The first coverage of the recently inaugurated “Indira canteens” in Karnataka that I noticed were two reports on television channels. Both were poking fun (justifiably) at Rahul Gandhi’s goofy speech at the launch. Sadly though, neither commented on the rationale or importance of the Karnataka government’s initiative. This...

-The Times of India BENGALURU: Investigations into 1,018 'consequential' train accidents in the past eight years —which took 1,940 lives at the rate of 2 deaths every 3 days — revealed that only 4.7% of them were caused by sabotage. A whopping 44% were caused due to failure of railway staff. Nearly 3,200 people suffered injuries in these accidents. That only 48 of these accidents (4.7%) were the result of sabotage puts the...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: The derailment of the Hirakhand Express comes in close succession to at least four similar train mishaps across the country in the recent past. Weeks ago, a goods train derailed at Wihirgaon station on Kazipet-Balharshah section of South Central Railway, leading to a major disruption of train movement on the important "trunk route". While authorities get down to checking the possibility of Saturday's train mishap — the...

-PTI According to the study, women who use open defecation sites are twice as likely to get raped compared to women using a home toilet. Washington: Women in India who use open defecation are prone to sexual violence and infrastructure improvements can provide them with some level of protection, a US university researcher has said. “Open defecation places women at uniquely higher risk of one type of sexual violence: non-partner,” says Approva...