-The Hindu An ideological conflict over the fundamentals of the revolutionary movement has led to a minor split in the odisha unit of the CPI (Maoist), after the party think-tank expelled senor leader Sabyasachi Panda. Panda, who has now formed the odisha Maowadi Party (OMP), has questioned the very path of protracted people’s war by the Maoists to achieve the new democratic revolution. In letters addressed to Maoist chief Ganapathy and other...

-The Times of India After spending around 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) on health in the past five years, the government is proposing an increase in public spending by half a percentage point to make it 1.58% for the coming five years (2012-17) under the 12th Plan.  This is what the draft chapter on health in the Plan document says. Health experts and activists are up in arms at this meagre...

-IANS At least 2,000 people were taken to safer places after the Hati river in odisha's Kalahandi district overflowed Sunday due to heavy rainfall during the last three days, an official said. Mihir Mohanty, an officer of the state disaster management department, told IANS that those moved to safer places from the low-laying areas were being provided dry and cooked food. The river was flowing two feet above the danger mark at Junagarh...

The Guwahati molestation incident throws light on the violence women face overtly and covertly in India, at home and outside. The shocking incident of the beating and molestation of a young woman by a mob in Guwahati in Assam on July 9 has exposed the ugly underbelly of modern, globalised India, where women face violence, covertly and overtly, at home and outside. The incident has also exposed the lackadaisical manner in...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court has struck down the grace marks of up to 30 per cent given to rurally posted government doctors in admissions to postgraduate medical degree courses in odisha. Its verdict yesterday set aside an Orissa High Court order that upheld the grace marks — 10 per cent per completed year of rural service up to three years — given in the state, and therefore applies only to odisha. But...