-The Hindu Sequence of attacks on “well-known business units” suggests violence was not spontaneous Last week’s violence in Faizabad district during the Durga Puja procession which left two persons dead, several injured and dozens of shops razed, was executed in a planned manner and the targets had been selected, according to a fact-finding team and accounts by victims and eyewitnesses. The fact-finding team of human rights organisation Rihai Manch said the sequence of...

-The Indian Express Hyderabad: Abdul Razak alias Mansoor, who police say was a Lashkar-e-Toiba member, committed suicide last Wednesday. His family intends to approach the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission, saying harassment by police drove Razak to kill himself. Razak was an accused in the November 2002 blast at Sai Baba temple in Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad that killed two persons and injured three. He was also named in the FIRs filed in...

-The Indian Express Ten kilometres from Jodhpur city, on a sultry afternoon under a flapping tent, a baby girl is born to Sadhu and Radha. People crowd around and peer into the tent to congratulate the couple. Someone in the crowd says, “The first Indian among us, she should be named Bharati.” The suggestion is met with nods of approval and cheers of “Bharati”. Over the last one month, the makeshift tent...

-The Times of India SRINAGAR: With the second killing of a sarpanch in a fortnight on Sunday by terrorists, the print media in the Valley, and particularly Urdu newspapers, published scores of advertisements from rattled panchayat chiefs on Tuesday announcing their resignations, in response to militants threats to quit or face the consequences. There were more than 50 such advertisements in Urdu newspapers with panchayat chiefs displaying their resignations. However, deputy commissioner...

-The Telegraph An NCERT survey has found children from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes lagging behind in education at the primary school level amid a national debate on reservation in promotions for them. The National Achievement Survey, conducted to evaluate the learning achievement of Class V students, found SC/ST students underperforming compared to general students (see chart). Over a lakh students from 6,602 schools in 27 states and four Union Territories were...