-The Times of India Rape is a notoriously under-reported crime, thanks to its social stigma and because the culprits in most of the cases are known to the victim. Yet, of all the major crimes, the incidence of rape has registered the highest growth in the country in the last four decades. If there's one big issue raised by Nirbhaya's tragedy it is the high incidence of rape and a low conviction...

-Outlook Opposing direct cash transfer and FDI in retail, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said inordinate delay in decision making and complicated procedures for statutory clearances were hurting the country's economy growth and investor sentiment. He told a meeting of National Development Council (NDC) here, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, that the 12th plan has been made on "patronage model" and impinges on the autonomy of the states by making...

-Outlook India, Brazil, China and other emerging nations will pay more to the United Nations after the General Assembly approved a five per cent increase to the world body's budget for 2012-13 to USD 5.4 billion. Capping days of intense negotiations, the Assembly adopted a range of Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) resolutions, covering the scale of assessing Member States' dues, the United Nations pension system and the proposed 2013 budget for...

-Outlook The National Water Resources Council chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to adopt tomorrow the draft National Water Policy, 2012 that stresses on the need to evolve a broad over-arching national legal FRAmework on water. The draft announced by the government in January this year was revised twice based on the recommendations made by the National Water Board. The Prime Minister chairs the meeting of the Council which has all...

-Frontline The Congress-led UPA seems to be betting heavily on the cash transfer scheme as a means to return to power in the next general elections. DECEMBER 2012 may go down in history as the month when the Congress party created its own “India Shining” moment: the moment when it started believing its own hype, and even deluded itself into thinking that its perception was so widely shared that it could provide...