-The Times of India The legislation to protect children below 18 years from sexual abuse became a reality on Tuesday with Lok Sabha passing the bill earlier cleared by Rajya Sabha. Parliament's nod came with the decision to keep the age of consent at 18 years despite opposition from child rights activists. The bill provides for special courts for speedy trial of cases and stringent punishment up to life term for the...

In a Bangladeshi folk story, a disabled grandfather is carried by his son in a basket, to be abandoned in the forest. On seeing this, the grandson calls out, 'Father, please be sure to bring back the basket. I will need it when you grow old'. Three thousand ageing men and women gathered in Delhi in the blazing midsummer heat to demand a universal pension for all aged people, not...

-The Times of India Under pressure from political parties and women's organizations, the government on Monday deferred passage of the bill that seeks to include "irretrievable breakdown of marriage'' among the reasons for divorce, along with other provisions, which the BJP has opposed on the ground that it could prove detrimental to women in the Indian social context. Law minister Salman Khurshid told Rajya Sabha said most of the concerns raised on...

A rural Indian spending Rs. 22.50 a day would not be considered poor by a Planning Commission whose Deputy Chairman's foreign trips between May and October last year cost a daily average of Rs. 2.02 lakh Pranab Mukherjee's stirring call for austerity tugs at the national tear ducts. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pleaded for it in the past and watched his flock embrace it creatively. With the Finance Ministry even...

Health activists say new policy may not address the weaknesses in ongoing routine immunisation programmes and would flood poor countries with new vaccines When the global health leaders meet in Geneva from May 21 to 26 for the World Health Organization's 65th General Assembly, introducing new vaccines in the low- and middle-income countries would be high on their agenda. A “global draft vaccine action plan”, available on WHO's website, details the implementation...