-The Times of India Seventy-year-old Kalyanasundaram's face wears a permanent look of defiance. Popularly known as 'Thagaval Thaatha', a veteran of over 300 applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, he faces threats from close to home - his neighbours.  Kalyanasundaram, who gathered with 50 other people from the city on Link Road in Egmore on Sunday morning in response to Anna Hazare's call for a day-long nationwide hunger fast, says...

Remember when the public was outraged at the idea that the poverty line should be 32 rupees, or 63 cents, a day in urban areas? We’ve now learned it should really be 29 rupees. And believe it or not, this is no sleight of hand to show a drop in poverty. The Planning Commission’s latest poverty estimates, released Monday evening, show a 7 percentage-point drop in India’s poor, the largest fall since...

A new study questions safety assessments of Bt brinjal, asks for an independent regulator Does it matter if the gene introduced in Bt brinjal varies from the natural brinjal by 70 amino acids rather than by one? What if the regulators in the country fail to detect this and rubber stamp a genetically-engineered vegetable on the basis of the premise submitted by the company that produced it — Mahyco in...

-The Times of India Buying a tribal bride may no longer be easy for boys from upper caste communities that have low sex ratios. Tribals across Gujarat are increasingly resentful of their daughters marrying into communities with few girls because of female foeticide. The Garasiya tribals of north Gujarat have even issued a diktat to the members not to marry girls outside the community. The leaders met in Shamlaji earlier this month...

-The Telegraph A comment attributed to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar that government schools breed Naxalites has sparked a furore, forcing the spiritual guru to issue a clarification today. Speaking at the 25th anniversary of a private school in Jaipur yesterday, Ravi Shankar had said: “Government ko koi school nahi chalana chahiye. Aksar paya jata hai ki government school se padhe hue bacche hi is tarha naxalvad me hinsa ke marg me chale...