-AFP Berlin: India has been ranked lower in corruption than neighbouring Pakistan but higher than China by graft watchdog Transparency International in a survey released on Tuesday. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia have been ranked as the world's most corrupt countries while Denmark and New Zealand are nearly squeaky-clean. India ranked 94 on the index, above Pakistan at rank 127 but below China which took the 80th position. India was ranked at...

-The Hindu     To be able to deliver appropriate legal services to the rural and tribal communities, we need an alternative delivery system with a different model of legal service providers Delivery of legal services to the rich and the corporate class is organised not through individual lawyers but through a series of networked law firms. These firms employ hundreds of lawyers and domain experts all over the country to provide highly specialised...

-The Times of India The outrage over the Delhi gang rape spurred the enactment of two Laws relating to gender reforms. The one widening the definition of rape and enhancing penalties for a range of sexual crimes was largely based on the recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee, which had been appointed post Nirbhaya. But when it came to the other law, which deals with sexual harassment at the...

-Down to Earth Expresses concern over alcohol brands being advertised in violation of rules India is emerging as the favourite destination for alcohol promotion of marketing companies. Their new targets are women and youth, who at present comprise a very small percentage of alcohol consumers in India. These are the observations made by a report-Alcohol Marketing and Regulatory Policy Environment in India-put out by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). It...

-The Hindu The pressure to furnish proof, the fear of fighting a superior, the likely impact on career, and adverse publicity prevent women from reporting sexual harassment An employee of Tehelka accuses Tarun Tejpal, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine, of sexually assaulting her during an event organised in Goa, and the police file a first information report. A law intern claims she was sexually harassed by a retired judge of...