-Live Mint Uttar Pradesh emerges as the state having the worst healthcare indicators in the country Safe child deliveries, the use of contraceptives, and post-natal care for mothers are still largely alien concepts in India’s poorest states, a government survey has found. Uttar Pradesh (UP) emerged as the state having the worst health indicators in the country. The Annual Health Survey (2010-11) to assess the impact of the government’s flagship health programme, the National...

-The Economic Times A year after the Centre shelved a move of introducing norms, including a 250-word limit on RTI applications, it has resurrected the proposal. The file pertaining to draft RTI rules has been sent to Prime Minister's Office, putting the proposal back on the agenda of UPA-II. The Centre had in November, 2010, sought to introduce amendment to RTI rules for filing applications. The rules framed by the Department...

-IANS The Supreme Court on Monday admitted a Bihar government plea challenging the acquittal of 23 accused in the massacre of 20 Dalits by the Ranvir Sena in Bathani Tola in Bhojpur district in 1996. An apex court bench of justice Altamas Kabir and justice J Chelameswar admitted the plea and issued notice to the acquitted accused. The trial court had convicted all the 23 accused and had awarded death sentence to...

-The Hindu Growing demand for male children, ‘same-caste’ surrogates   Unregulated fertility clinics indulge in medical malpractices, including physical and economical exploitation of women, a study has shown. Shockingly, preference for male children and demand for ‘same caste’ surrogates are prevalent in India. “Some couples, say about 5 per cent, who come to my clinic demand surrogates from their own caste,” says Nayna Patel, of the Akanksha Fertility Clinic in Anand, Gujarat that has come...

Hearing of the petition in Supreme Court today against Patna High Court verdict acquitting all the accused A day before the hearing of the petition in the Supreme Court against the Patna High Court verdict acquitting all the accused in the Bathani Tola massacre of 1996, civil society activists on Sunday demanded justice for the victims of the massacre at a “Convention on Justice for the Bathani Tola Massacre 1996: Punish...