-The Hindu Political parties are ‘deeply concerned' and even ‘outraged' at the Supreme Court verdict that any person in custody - whether convicted or not - could not contest elections. Even as they had apprehensions, politicians had ‘cautiously welcomed' the verdict, which disqualified convicted lawmakers from holding office or contesting polls. But the judgment barring those imprisoned from fighting polls has opened up prospects of a confrontation between the judiciary and the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Patients infected with the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) in the northeastern states have been unable to undergo a key test required to start anti-HIV drugs for several weeks because of delays in procurement by government agencies, patient interest groups said today. The Indian Drug Users Forum said several government HIV-treatment centres across Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura are facing a "complete stock-out" of biochemical reagents that measure levels...

-The Times of India MENDHARI (GADCHIROLI): The picturesque little hamlet of Mendhari, around 90-km from Gadchiroli town, was considered by the Naxalites as a safe haven. The tranquillity here had remained undisputed until Sunday when, for the first time, the villagers witnessed a lopsided bloodbath in which six women rebels were killed in police firing. The villagers, who claimed to have been thrashed by the C-60 commandos too, told TOI that four...

-Live Mint Debates on malnutrition ignore links with sanitation and disease and the burdens these impose on children Children in India are among the shortest in the world. Widespread child stunting is a human development tragedy. This is not because there is anything wrong with being short or anything inherently good about being tall. The tragedy is because of what makes children short: we all have different genetic potential heights, but...

-The Business Standard Food insecurity and hunger are rooted in bad policies, faulty design, poor governance and a lack of political will According to the latest Global Hunger Report, India continues to be in the category of those nations where hunger is "alarming". What is worse, despite high growth, the hunger index in India between 1996 and 2011 has gone up from 22.9 to 23.7. National Sample Survey Organisation data show that...