-The Hindu India Specific Safeguard Agreement being implemented very smoothly The Indian civil nuclear programme as well as the country’s tightening of laws to check nuclear proliferation came in for praise from Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano. Speaking to journalists here after touring Tarapur Atomic Power Station’s units 3 & 4, Dr. Amano lauded the “serious efforts, enthusiasm by the operators, engineers to further improve, further enhance the...

-Outlook The Centre today decided to release a relief package of more than Rs 2,892 crore for seven states, including Maharashtra, to help them tackle the impact of droughts, floods and landslides faced last year. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on drought, headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Briefing the media, Pawar said: "There were number of proposals from various states demanding central assistance...

-The Economist A steadily rising Muslim population continues to fall behind IT TELLS you something hopeful perhaps that, for all the horror unleashed when two bombs laid by presumed militant Islamists ripped through a crowd in Hyderabad on February 21st, India’s public response has been muted. The blasts killed 16 and injured 117. Both the method of the attack (bombs in metal tiffin boxes strapped to bicycles) and its location (near a...

-The Hindu Dantewada (Chhattisgarh): Of the six tribal women of Shamsetti village in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh who in 2009 gave statements in court that they had been gang-raped by Salwa Judum functionaries, three have now withdrawn their charges. Three key witnesses — family members of the women — have also retracted their statements. Some lawyers in Dantewada familiar with the case say that the women are withdrawing due to “severe pressure”...

-The Hindu Jammu: Responding to the public pressure, an Army court on Saturday decided to shift its centre of recording the statements of witnesses in the Pathribal carnage from Nagrota in Jammu to Awantipore in Kashmir valley. The court is holding trial on a chargesheet as the CBI has held a group of the Army officials guilty of killing five civilians in a fake encounter in Anantnag district in March 2000. Even...