-The Times of India A year after trying to provide a dignified life to sex workers, the Supreme Court on Thursday said its orders should not be construed as an encouragement to prostitution. The clarification came from a bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Gyan Sudha Mishra after additional solicitor general P P Malhotra drew the court's attention to its July 19 order in which it had sought suggestions from the SC-constituted...

-PTI Aiming to strengthen the functioning of Panchayati Raj institutions, Centre has advised state governments to videograph gram sabha proceedings,besides introducing a slew of schemes for improving their set up. "The scheme will start from 2012-13, that is the first year of 12th Five Year Plan. It will require the states to undertake reforms, devolve funds, strengthen state election commissions and finance commission and set up Mahila Sabhas," Union Minister for Panchayati...

-PTI Court agrees to examine the whole issue at length   The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to examine the Centre’s plea that sex workers should not be allowed to operate in the country under the cloak of working “with dignity” as suggested by a panel, since that would be contrary to the statute prohibiting the world’s oldest trade. Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor-General P. P. Malhotra told a Special Bench of Justice...

-The Telegraph When the deadly gas was spreading havoc in Bhopal, Arjun Singh was hundreds of miles away — praying. Hours after the leaking methyl isocyanate gas had left a trail of death in the Madhya Pradesh capital, the state’s then chief minister had taken a flight to Allahabad, where he visited the chapel of his childhood school to pray for “moral courage”. The startling revelation comes in Arjun’s yet-to-be-released memoirs, A Grain...

-The Business Standard   One of Sewa's triumphs is formation of the Mahila SEWA Sahakari Bank In April 10 this year, SEWA, the Self-Employed Women’s Association, which prefers to describe itself as a cooperative or trade union rather than a microfinance institution (MFI) (though it straddles both spheres), with a membership of 1.3 million women, completed 40 years of its existence. This gives us an ideal opportunity to review its historic contribution to...