-The Hindu ‘Appreciative mechanisms for welfare of children living there could be replicated’. The social audit report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which exposed the sexual abuse of 34 minor girls at a State-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur, has also pointed out that there are at least seven shelter homes that could, in fact, be models for other such institutions in the State. The 100-page TISS report has not been...

-The Indian Express In a chapter titled “Grave Concerns”, the report, seen by The Sunday Express, lists specific complaints by inmates. Here are excerpts from the report. Muzaffarpur/ Patna: Citing sexual exploitation at six short stay homes, physical abuse at 14 shelters, bathrooms with no latches, and inmates being “always locked up”, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), in its report to the Bihar government, said abuse is “prevalent in almost...

-The Indian Express One reason for the MSPs not having the desired impact could be the delayed announcement. Farmers usually make sowing decisions before the onset of the monsoon. New Delhi: The government may have substantially hiked minimum support prices (MSP) of crops being grown in the current kharif season. That, along with most parts of India receiving good rain until now, should have considerably boosted plantings by farmers this time. However, the...

-The Telegraph Patna: As soon as the Sun set, the girls would be scared. The nights were full of terror. That was what a 10-year-old girl, from the Balika Grih in Muzaffarpur at the centre of the sexual abuse horror, said in Hindi before a judicial magistrate. The Bihar government blinked and recommended a CBI probe into the rampant abuse at the Balika Grih, a government-funded shelter home run by an NGO,...

-Hindustan Times In India, it’s difficult to find accurate estimates of campaign spending. Research also shows that illicit funds are important in funding elections in the country. Despite constant chatter about the massive (and rising) costs of election campaigns in India, there is a dearth of credible data on the actual costs, the sources of support for candidates, and the implications of campaign costs on governance between elections. However, newly available survey data...