-The Times of India The government is redrafting the anti-rape law following serious concerns raised by Cabinet members that the proposed legislation was loosely-worded and open to misuse, and did not account for new social realities of a growing women workforce and inadequacies of law enforcing agencies. The criminal law amendment bill was urgently referred to a group of ministers after objections were raised at Tuesday morning's Cabinet meeting over the formulation...

-Pragoti The magnificent victory of the CPI(M)-led Left Front in Tripura - winning 50 out of the 60 seats – and the success of the LF candidate in the Nalhati by-election in West Bengal has been interpreted as a “re-emergence” of the Left parties by a senior CPI(M) leader. This does not seem to be a rigorous assessment. While the fifth consecutive win by the LF in Tripura is a matter of...

-The Times of India The Union Cabinet is set to clear a bill seeking to replace the post-Nirbhaya case ordinance dealing with crime against women which will reduce the age for consensual sex to 16 and reinstate "rape" as an offence specifically committed against women. The government has resolved differences on the two contentious aspects of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, bowing to the demands of women's groups who protested against...

-The Economic Times A balance between the need to unleash animal spirits and the larger issues of ethical governance is essential for the country to move ahead, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh tells ET in an exclusive interview. * Is unleashing animal spirits still the main focus of the government? Unleashing the animal spirits is all very well but it has to be in an ethical framework. Markets is all about...

-The Indian Express Setting up women-only banks overlooks the reasons for their exclusion The women-only bank mentioned in the finance minister's budget speech is like flowers and chocolates — a sweet thought but just as unsubstantial. Financial exclusion of women is a real problem. It deserves far greater effort than sops like a women-only bank. Such a bank also runs counter to the logic of mainstreaming, rather than ghettoising, gender issues. It is...