-The Indian Express   Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday termed the suggestion to deny privileges to those families in Kerala who do not follow the two-child norm as “ridiculous”, saying the states cannot provide benefits on the basis of the number of children that a family has. “It (the recommendation) is not being implemented anywhere. Anybody can say anything but the state will not provide on the basis of the...

The multinational refuses to be sensitive to the grievances of its Indian workforce, which generates the greater proportion of the company's profits. The workers of the Maruti Suzuki India Limited's (MSIL) plant in Haryana's Manesar have been agitating since August-end against the dismissal and suspension of more than 60 of their colleagues and the management's insistence on their signing a ‘good conduct bond' before they are allowed to enter the plant....

-The Telegraph   After Mahanadi, Brahmani and Baitarani are wreaking havoc and the two rivers have left as many as 1,114 villages marooned. Six choppers of the navy and air force were pressed into service for airdropping relief material in the flood-affected pockets. Two more helicopters are expected to reach by tomorrow to expedite the relief operation. “The next 36 hours will be crucial as the water level of the Brahmani is rising,” said...

A new house bearing Tara Chand’s name awaits to be occupied by his family. The house was constructed by the government around four months ago, claim members of the Balmiki community in Mirchpur, Haryana. Tara Chand and his physically challenged daughter were burnt alive in April last year during a clash between the Balmiki and Jat communities. His wife and three sons moved to Hisar. On Sunday, the only telling signs...

Union Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, lacking sportsman’s spirit, has stuck to his post like Dendrite paste, despite a series of failures in combating secessionist insurgencies including the armed offensive led by the Communist Party of India (Maoist). He parrots Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and considers Maoists to be “the most formidable challenge to governance.” “Only if villagers think that the real adversary is the Naxal who keeps them under threat will...