-The Telegraph Guwahati: Gauhati High Court today said cases of fraud against dubious deposit collecting companies should be probed in a time-bound manner, while their victims' deposits should be refunded using the cash and properties of these firms seized by police. The court stated this during the first hearing of a suo motu PIL (15/2013) it had recently taken up against companies which collect huge deposits from the public by offering lucrative...

-The Hindustan Times Far from the neatly trimmed lawns of India Gate that so often reverberate with cries for justice, far also from the corridors of power where ministries recently squabbled over the right age for consensual sex, lie 197 districts - yes 197, read the figure again - where children are regularly abused. In these districts -- all ridden by conflict -- words like illegal detention, arbitrary arrests, sexual violence, torture...

-The Telegraph Sualkuchi: The sound of wood striking wood was missing, as was the sight of intricate and colourful patterns on silk taking shape on the loom. This silk town, around 35km from Guwahati and on the North Bank of the Brahmaputa, seemed to have lost its raison d'etre - producing silk products of fame - after the invasion of similar products bearing the name of another town on the bank of...

-The Business Standard Asks banks to take immediate action against officials responsible for lapses A day after a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report pointed out irregularities in the Rs 71,680-crore agricultural debt waiver and debt relief scheme of 2008, the Reserve Bank of India today swung into action. It asked lenders to verify all the accounts granted benefits under the scheme. RBI said administrative and accounting lapses on the part...

Introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, the UPA government’s Food Security Bill is finally going to be discussed in the current (Budget) Session of Parliament. The proposed legislation is now slated to see many additional amendments from the government, following criticism from the States, NGOs and diverse stake-holders working on access to food and child health. Attempt here is to summarise in a Q & A format the...