-The Hindu Mumbai: Sloppy implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) has resulted in large tracts of forests being cut down and claimed as cultivated land in Maharashtra, according to a study. Data shows that in Jalgaon district alone, more than 79 per cent claims over cultivated forest land were apparently on ineligible lands and about 25 per cent had forest cover. In Thane, adjacent to Mumbai with a high land...

-The Hindu Natpurwa is a village where women have been forced into prostitution for centuries. And one of them is determined to help the others break free. Round faced, stout and dusky, Chandralekha, at age 15, was the most desired girl among the politicians, policemen and senior members of Eastern Uttar Pradesh’s civil society. “They always wanted plump women,” says Chandralekha, now 51 years old. Chandralekha was pushed into prostitution, by her...

-Live Mint State govt says did not receive notice from SC before order was issued; SKS shares fall 19.63% in intra-day trade Mumbai: Andhra Pradesh, once the largest market for microlenders and home to India's lone listed such institution SKS Microfinance Ltd, said on Thursday it would challenge the Supreme Court's recent interim order allowing the company to resume operations in the southern state, driving the stock down by almost 20%...

-The Indian Express In what could be a slight setback to the government's programme to bring safe and adequate drinking water to all rural households, only around 67 per cent of the targets have been met under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) in 2012-13, as against the over 90 per cent achievement figures in the previous three financial years. These figures, up to March 19, have been made available as...

-Outlook 2,500 civilians, a majority of them marginalized tribals, were killed by the Naxals in last five years, the Home Ministry said. Since 2007, more than 2,500 civilians were killed by the CPI(Maoist) cadres and a majority of them are tribals who are branded as police informers before being brutally tortured and killed. According to the Home Ministry, tribals and economically underprivileged sections have been the biggest victims of the protracted "people's war"...