-AP The microfinance industry pursued a path of rapid business growth in recent years; two investigations now link it to debtor suicides   First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, television sets, ration cards and heirloom gold jewellery. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself into a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children. Sometimes, the debt collectors watched nearby. More than 200 poor, debt-ridden residents of...

It's Okay to call a woman sexy. At least that's what the head of the National Commission of Women believes. At a seminar in Jaipur on Saturday, NCW chairperson Mamta Sharma said, "Don't be offended if someone says 'sexy', rather take it positively." The audience comprising students and sadhvis appeared stunned.  The 'Gateway to Future' seminar was organized by Terapanth, a socio-religious organization, to discuss various women's issues, including crimes against...

Lax policemen made Jharkhand’s borders porous and helped child trafficking, a shocked National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) found on its second day of public hearing here today. In the cases that came to the commission for hearing, it was revealed that the police sat idle and deaf to frantic pleas of people whose minor children went missing. The members of the commission rebuked the State Police for being...

Police officers who have stood up for the truth are made to pay for it. IF there is anyone who can nail the perpetrators of the anti-Muslim riots of 2002 in Gujarat, it is the State's police officers. Witness to the worst communal violence seen in recent times, these officers have first-hand knowledge of the complicity of politicians in the riots and the degree of brutality and negligence of duty that...

At the age of 18, he had allegedly planted as many as 28 bombs in Delhi and NCR, that too single-handedly in all but one instance. Mohammad Amir Khan had, therefore, been implicated in 19 cases, charged with serious offences such as murder and waging war against the government. Yet, after spending 14 years in jail, he was released last month after being acquitted in all but two cases. Though the...