Girl child survival is skewedeven in those areas of northern India having limited access topublic health facilities and modern ultrasound technology asfamilies ''neglect'' them to ensure there are few survivors,says a new study. Since families can not know the sex of the foetus dueto lack of technology, girls born in these areas facesystematic healthcare neglect, specially in poorer communitiesto ''dispose them off'', says the study. Allowing the umbilical cord of the newly...

Besieged as it is by a spate of scams, the Centre has revived the 40-year-old proposal of setting up a national ombudsman called the Lokpal to probe political corruption. But, far from overcoming the existing deficiencies, the latest draft Bill – which could be promulgated any time soon as an ordinance - provides a legal veneer to them so that crooked politicians will continue to enjoy almost as much impunity...

One of the significant changes in the Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday was the shifting of Vilasrao Deshmukh from Heavy Industries to Rural Development and Panchyati Raj. The move is being seen as Ironic by many as it comes just a month after he was pulled up by the Supreme Court for stopping police action on a complaint by farmers against a money lender, who is the father of a Congress legislator,...

In India, people are upset about onions. Expensive cooking oil is causing hoarding in China, a practice banned by the government. Meanwhile, flour and bread are the main source of riots in Algeria and now Jordan. Worries over food prices are gathering pace and triggering alarm among politicians across the world. For there is nothing more likely to bring down a government than ignoring starving citizens, as Marie Antoinette found to...

An eight-year-old tribal girl was allegedly branded with Iron rods several times by a hostel superintendent in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol district, officials said Wednesday. Shushila, a Class 3 student, was studying at Adivasi Kanya Ashram in Shahdol and living in the school hostel. The latest incident reportedly took place Jan 4 when hostel superintendent Anita Sant took Shushila from her hostel room to her office and subjected her to the torture. 'At 8...