-Poynter.org It’s not often that two stories about rape — one in India and one here in the U.S. — get so much attention at the same time. What’s striking about the simultaneous stories is how differently journalists are covering them. The case in New Delhi involves a young woman who was raped so brutally that she died. The five men suspected of the rape now face charges of kidnapping, rape and...

-Open Democracy Were Ram Singh and his cohort simply claiming a notion of masculinity promoted every day by their role models in politics, business and the media? Ruchira Gupta writes of the steady creeping of a rape culture into the fabric of India, and what needs to be done to counter the idea that women are commodities Let us talk about Ram Singh, the chief rapist accused in the case of Damini,...

-The Indian Express In what could give a legal validation to severe punishments in cases with grave “social consequences”, the Supreme Court has ruled that “punishment should acknowledge the sanctity of human life” and hence not just an act but its result must weigh heavy while ascertaining adequate penalty. Sending across a strong message to all trial courts to take note of the impact of a crime on the society and its...

-Outlook Hyderabad: Union government is all set to provide loans to women self help groups (SHGs) at the rate of seven per cent from April 1 next year and at four per cent to the target group in 150 selected districts, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh announced here today. "Loans will be extended to Self Help Groups at 7 per cent from April 1 while in another 150 districts, selected...

-CNN-IBN Inside the crumbling housing estates of Shivaji Enclave, amid the boys playing cricket and housewives chatting from their balconies, winding staircases lead to places where lies a darker side to India's economic boom. Three months ago, police rescued Theresa Kerketa from one of these tiny two-roomed flats. For four years, she was kept here by a placement agency for domestic maids, in between stints as a virtual slave to Delhi's...