-The Business Standard A quick recap of the intensely fractured debate on GM crops and what the pro & anti arguments are. After nearly a decade of opposition, Environment Minister Veerappa Moily is finally expected to rule in favour of the contentious GM or genetically modified food crops in India. The Economic Times reports that this will "pave the way for the government to submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court agreeing...

A new report from Right to Sanitation Campaign in India entitled: In Deep Shit paints a gloomy picture about the position of India's sanitation, and simultaneously draws our attention to the case of ‘missing' and ‘dead' toilets. The report has questioned the claims made by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) that India is making great strides in availing toilets to its rural population through the Nirmal Bharat...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: A tough challenge awaits the Aam Aadmi Party if it has to keep Arvind Kejriwal's promise of BRInging in a Jan Lokpal bill within 15 days of forming the government in Delhi. Amending the existing Lokayukta Act would have involved getting the Lt Governor's assent and getting the amendment bill passed in the assembly, where getting the numbers would have been uncertain in itself. The party has,...

-The Hindu Bangalore (Karnataka): The State's Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), which has been a cause of concern in the past, has seen a significant fall in the last three years. From 178 per lakh live births in the period between 2007 and 2009, the State's MMR has come down to 144 in 2012, a decline of 34 percentage points. Although the State is still behind Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala,...

-The Hindu India's long-standing legacies of caste, gender and class antagonism replicate on campuses as well. As higher education moves forward, it does so on these social cleavages The brutal sexual attack on a young woman in Delhi, in 2012, and a savage attack on a girl student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on its campus this year are just two examples of extreme violence that have shocked the nation. Acts of...