-The Times of India Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has declined to disclose details of her income tax returns under the RTI Act, citing personal freedom and security risk. In her reply to the I-T department, she also said there was no public interest involved in disclosing such information. Chennai-based RTI activist V Gopalakrishnan had sought details of her I-T returns from the year 2000-2001 to 2010-2011. The assistant commissioner of income tax,...

A village wedding in Madhya Pradesh stood out for one reason on Tuesday: the groom had chosen to go ahead with the marriage after learning the bride had been raped two days earlier. The groom, a Class XII dropout and farmer, told this newspaper that it was his duty to stand by the bride and fight her battle for justice together. “It is a testing time for her for no fault of...

The government is planning to come up with a price protection fund to cushion the burden of food subsidy, which is expected to grow manifold under the new Food Security Bill. The proposed fund, under the ministry of food and consumer affairs, is a Budget proposal for 2012-13. Officials said the framework of the fund was at a nascent stage. “Some inferences are being drawn from the recommendation of National Farmers’ Commission...

The Law Commission recommends making Section 498A, IPC, compoundable, and women's groups say that would affect women's interests. A REPORT of the Law Commission of India on “Compounding of (IPC) Offences” suggesting that Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, which prescribes punishment for a husband or his relatives for subjecting a woman to cruelty, be made compoundable with the permission of the court, is fraught with several implications. The report...

-The Hindustan Times   On the night of February 5, a woman, on her way back from visiting a nightclub in Kolkata’s Park Street area, was raped inside the vehicle in which she had been offered a lift. Horrifying as it is, the violence perpetrated was not unique in the annals of urban crime. A mother of two, the 37-year-old was alone, her companions having already left. She had been drinking for a...