-The Telegraph New Delhi: A year after the Supreme Court pulled up 19 states, including Bengal, that did not have a commission to protect children's rights and directed them to set up one, most of these panels exist only on paper. All states/Union territories are required to have a child rights commission under Section 17 of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005. Twenty-three states now have the panels -...

In its latest report, the Statistical Year Book, India 2014 conveys that India is clearly on track to attain the MDG-2 (achieve universal primary education) and MDG-8 (develop a global partnership for development). However, the results are either mixed or poor in terms of India's performance in achieving the rest of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The chart below provides the MDG scenario from a bird's eye view.   The new...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Here's a good note on which to start the New Year. Fewer people were killed in Delhi in 2013. The number of murders, a prime indicator of the crime situation in a city, dropped. So did the number of accidents, Delhi police commissioner B S Bassi announced in a press conference on Friday. A total of 487 people were murdered in the city last year, compared...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: In 97 per cent of the Rape cases reported this year, the crime was committed by a person known to the victim, police data reveals. In 40 per cent cases, the crime was committed by a family member or neighbour, data shows. This year, 1,559 cases of rape were reported against 680 in 2012. According to police data, in 33 cases the father was named as accused and,...

-The Hindu The Congress has steered clear of any debate on the AFSPA, leaving a politically untenable choice for the next government: repeal the Act or leave it untouched With its recent decision to extend the implementation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Manipur by another year, the United Progressive Alliance's opportunistic posturing on the legislation has come full circle. The UPA's rendezvous with the AFSPA began months after it...