-The Telegraph New delhi: The law commission has recommended to the Centre compensation to victims of custodial torture and deterrent punishment that may include life imprisonment of the perpetrators. The recommendations assume significance against the backdrop of frequent allegations that police resort to third-degree torture to extract confessions and statements from the accused. The commission's report, authored by its chairperson Justice (retd) B.S. Chauhan, was submitted to Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad...

-The Telegraph New delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked for details of members of Parliament alleged to have crime records and the status of trials pending against them following claims that more than one in every three lawmakers in Parliament had criminal antecedents. Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha, who were hearing a batch of petitions seeking a lifetime ban on convicted persons from contesting Assembly or parliamentary elections, asked petitioner...

-The Telegraph New delhi: More than half the light emitting diode (LED) bulb brands sold in India breach the safety standards prescribed by the government's Bureau of Indian Standards, a lighting industry association said on Monday, citing a survey by a market research firm. The Nielsen survey has found that 36 to 73 per cent of LED bulb brands sold across 200 retail outlets in four cities failed to comply with the...

-The Telegraph New delhi: India will need to quintuple its investments on tuberculosis control over the next five years for a "substantial impact", says a World Health Organisation report released on Monday. The report says that India will need to invest at least $3.4 billion (Rs 22,000 crore), or nearly five times the Rs 4,500 crore spent over the past five years. The estimated requirement translates into an annual spending of about...

-Livemint.com Madhya Pradesh government had launched the compensation scheme to ensure that farmers receive minimum support price for pulses and oilseeds New delhi: An ambitious scheme launched by the Madhya Pradesh government to ensure that farmers receive minimum support prices (MSP) for pulses and oilseeds is falling prey to trader cartels, suggest price data from wholesale markets and testimonies by farmer organizations. Following a sharp fall in crop prices over the past year...