-The Times of India While it is no secret that former President Pratibha Patil set new records with her incessant travel, RTI records have revealed another dubious first. Patil travelled twice as many times as the PM and vice-president over the last three years spending over Rs 140 crore in air travel expenses alone. According to data given by Air Force in response to an RTI filed by activist Subhash Agrawal, IAF's...

The Guwahati molestation incident throws light on the violence women face overtly and covertly in India, at home and outside. The shocking incident of the beating and molestation of a young woman by a mob in Guwahati in Assam on July 9 has exposed the ugly underbelly of modern, globalised India, where women face violence, covertly and overtly, at home and outside. The incident has also exposed the lackadaisical manner in...

-IANS Eighteen of the 82 parliamentarians given licences of prohibited bore guns between 2001- 12 had criminal charges pending against them, a study has said, hinting at criminalisation of Indian politics. The 18 MPs were facing cases like murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping at the time the weapons were sold to them. "The study shows the extent to which our politics has become criminalised...we need to take immediate steps to root out...

-The Business Standard Madhav Gadgil headed the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel set up by the ministry of environment and forests in 2010. The report zoned 75 per cent of the Western Ghats into different grades of ecological sensitivity. The recommendation was to protect these zones with measures by phasing out mining and introducing organic farming and eco-friendly urbanisation. The report also proposed a development model executed in consultation with the...

Supreme Court wants hazardous waste rules aligned with Basel Convention THE Supreme Court has directed the Centre to ban the import of hazardous waste. While hearing a 17-year-old case, the court also asked the government to amend the existing laws pertaining to toxic waste so that they comply with the Basel Convention, an international treaty that prohibits transboundary movement of toxic waste. India ratified the Convention in 1992. The court gave the...