-The Hindu However, the country’s value increased 61 per cent from 1980 to 2012 India has been ranked 136 among 187 countries evaluated for human development index (HDI) — a measure for assessing progress in life expectancy, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living or gross national income per capita. The Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for 2013, released on Thursday, puts India’s HDI value for...

-The Hindu Hundreds of undertrials languish in overcrowded south Chhattisgarh prisons even as their trial proceeds sluggishly, says an RTI reply With most information regarding prisons closely guarded in the country, in conflict zones — some north-eastern States, Kashmir or Chhattisgarh — it is even more so. The only information about prisons that percolates to public space is about how inmates are becoming master painters, singers or dance drama designers. While those...

-The Indian Express They are denied entry to temples, given restricted access to water, made to work for a pittance. Now that Orissa's Dalits are asserting themselves against traditions, many are facing ostracism or violent attacks. Debabrata Mohanty reports Until a month before Naveen Patnaik became Orissa's chief minister in March 2000, Dalit labourer Ganapati Naik, now 42, had been living a happy if impoverished life with his bride and parents in...

-The Times of India The government is redrafting the anti-rape law following serious concerns raised by Cabinet members that the proposed legislation was loosely-worded and open to misuse, and did not account for new social realities of a growing women workforce and inadequacies of law enforcing agencies. The criminal law amendment bill was urgently referred to a group of ministers after objections were raised at Tuesday morning's Cabinet meeting over the formulation...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: Contrary to popular perception, the age-old bride bazaar continues to flourish on the back of a well-oiled network of brokers in the poverty-stricken parts of the Old City, with Muslim women increasingly falling victims to the trade. Activists say that till date, thousands of young women have been married off to cash-rich foreign nationals and the lives of many more are at stake. Activists say that the...