-The Times of India   Eighty-two of the 97 people accused in the Mirchpur killing of a 70-year-old dalit and his physically challenged daughter were acquitted by a Delhi court for lack of Evidence. The then SHO of the area, Vinod Kajal, was also acquitted by the court. All the arrested are from the Jat community, who allegedly killed Tara Chand and his 17-year-old handicapped daughter after they burnt down Chand's hut. The...

-The United Nations   The United Nations educational agency has embarked on a new partnership to train thousands of school principals, beginning in Kenya, Ghana and India, that has the potential to benefit up to 10 million children in the future. The initiative by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Varkey GEMS Foundation, a not-for-profit education organization, is known as the “10,000 Principals Leadership Programme.” “This partnership is an excellent...

-The Hindu   Even as the death toll in last week's clash at Gopalgarh went up to nine, the deadlock over the post-mortem on five of the victims of violence in the eastern Rajasthan town ended on Wednesday with their close relatives agreeing to the autopsies with videography in the presence of distinguished persons. A five-member team of doctors from Sawai Man Singh Hospital here started the autopsies at the Bharatpur Government Hospital...

Twenty five Indian states have favoured striking down IPC Sec 309 that criminalises attempt to commit suicide by making it punishable with imprisonment. Responding to a query by the Union home ministry, states recently sent their comments concurring with the recommendation of the 210th Report of the Law Commission which advocated repealing Sec 309. It had argued that attempting suicide was “manifestation of a diseased condition of mind” that called for...

Amid policy battles over food production, energy resources and economic decline, one untapped natural resource that is guaranteed to boost production on a global scale has been stubbornly overlooked – the power of women in the labour force. According to the World Bank's 2012 World Development Report (WDR) "Gender Equality and Development", ensuring equal access for women farmers would increase maize yields by 11 to 16 percent in Malawi and 17...