-The Times of India MUMBAI: Reports of children taking extreme steps or running away from home after being disciplined stare at us from newspapers every other day. Yet, in a shocking finding, a study tells us that almost seven out of 10 sets of parents hit their children in Mumbai. Across India, 65% parents admit they are not averse to spanking their kids. The widespread prevalence of spanking belies attempts to provide...

-Live Mint While natural disasters grab our attention, everyday events like illness drag most people into poverty  In a small town of Gujarat, I met Chandibai, a woman, about 50 years of age. Fifteen years previously, her husband, Gokalji, had owned a general-purpose shop in the town centre. The family also owned a house and some agricultural land. In 1989, Gokalji developed an illness that confined him to bed, sometimes at home...

-Outlook In poll-bound Himachal, where political heat has reached to the maximum in its last leg, the capping on LPG cylinders following a recent order by the Centre has pushed all other issues on the backburner with the ruling BJP banking on it to keep voters away from Congress. "Gas ke chulhe ki mar ya Induction chulhe ka uphar (choice is yours, whether a free induction stove or the pinch of cap...

-Frontline There is growing violence against women and children in Haryana, aided by the apparent collusion between the State government and the upper-caste-dominated khap panchayats. THE road leading to Dabra village in Haryana’s Hisar district is not very difficult to locate. It was at Dabra, a mere 15 kilometres from the district headquarters, that a heinous crime was committed on September 9. It would have gone unnoticed had it not been accompanied...

-Frontline After the year-long Jansamvad Yatra and Jansatyagraha, the Ekta Parishad has a written commitment from the Rural Development Ministry to advance land reforms.  Celebration and caution. These sentiments dominated the deliberations of senior activists of the Ekta Parishad as they gathered at Delhi’s Gandhi Peace Foundation office on October 18, one week after the organisation and the Union government had signed a 10-point agreement to advance land reforms. The agreement had...