-The Hindustan Times Some weeks ago, much before the gruesome gang rape and murder in the capital ruptured the country's conscience and forced our people out of their stupor to rise in widespread angry protests, The Guardian had posed the following question: "Of all the G-20 nations, India has been labeled as the worst place to be a woman. But how is this possible in a country that prides itself as being...

-Outlook As a debate raged over imposing death penalty for rape convicts, National Commission for Minorities (NCM) opposed such a "blanket provision", saying this would prompt offenders to kill their victims. "The laws concerning rape provisions should be made for enhancement of punishment with imprisonment of life and also liability to fine. A blanket provision for death would prompt offenders to kill their victims, compounding instances of rape and murder," the NCM...

-The Economic Times The government has decided to conduct a study on the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act to know the cost to the government in providing information to citizens under the UPA's showpiece initiative and whether it has helped improve its "public perception about the extent of reduction in corruption". As per the RTI Act of 2005, only Rs 10 fee is required to seek information from any...

-The Indian Express Ahmedabad: The uncovering of what appears to be baby trading has blurred the line between such rackets and surrogacy, amid signs that the woman not only sold off at least one child but has also struck a deal for one she is expecting. Manjula, or Mona Thakor, admits she was paid for a baby by a Ahmedabad gynaecologist who routed it to a couple. The crime branch has found...

-The Hindu Refusal by Dalits to work as agricultural labour and to perform menial duties plus their relative economic improvement have made them the targets of caste violence In the recent violence against the Dalits in Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu, about 300 of their houses were burnt down and other properties destroyed by the Vanniars, a numerically strong intermediate caste, sections of whom have been economically stagnant. The immediate cause for...