-The Times of India A report released by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday said activists are threatened and attacked both by "Indian authorities and Maoist insurgents, who undermine basic freedoms and interfere with delivery of aid in embattled areas of central and eastern India".  In its 60-page report — Between Two Sets of Guns: Attacks on Civil Society Activists in India's Maoist Conflict — the rights body documented cases of...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today asked the Bengal government to take steps to arrest the migration of widows to Vrindavan. “This is human problem… a very serious problem,” Justices D.K. Jain and Madan B. Lokur told state counsel Abhijit Sengupta. “Many of the destitute are coming from your state or Odisha,” the court said. Sengupta sought time to file his reply to the suggestion. The court also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to...

-PTI Indicating that its nearly three- year-old battle with inflation is not yet over and a loose monetary policy is still far off, the Reserve Bank today said the near-term inflation trajectory still remains sticky on the back of weak monsoon, higher support price for farm crops and the falling rupee. Headline inflation persisted above 7 per cent during the first quarter of the fiscal due to a rebound in food rates...

QUEZON CITY (PIA) -- The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) announced today the six winners of the 2012 Ramon Magsaysay Award. The awardees were from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan. A press statement from RMAF said hen Shu-Chu, from Taiwan, is being recognized for “the pure altruism of her personal giving, which reflects a deep, consistent, quiet compassion and has transformed the lives of the numerous Taiwanese she has...

-The Indian Express Commenting on the state of education and other human development indices in India, Prof Amartya Sen on Monday likened it to a state of ‘emergency’. The Nobel laureate pointed out that not only Japan and Korea but also other South Asian countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand have taken a lead in providing quality education to their people. “While they took a lead... we were left behind and...