Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately order an impartial probe into the role of the Chhattisgarh police in the case of alleged torture of tribal teacher Soni Sori, now detained in the Raipur jail on charges of helping Maoists. It wants proper medical facilities provided to the 35-year-old mother, who was tortured so badly that “...two foreign body [sic] recovered of size 2.5 x 1.5...

-The Times of India The Tamil Nadu Bishop Council on Thursday flayed the Centre for targeting the Christian community for the protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project and requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop the "harassment". The bishops are pained by the witch hunt, said Archbishop A M Chinnappa.  Speaking to reporters here, the council authorities, including Chinnappa and Tuticorin Archbishop Yvon Ambroise, said no one could stop them from...

-BBC A senior Indian police officer has been run over and killed by a vehicle carrying illegally quarried stones in northern Madhya Pradesh state, police said. Narendra Kumar Singh, 30, tried to stop a tractor carrying the stones, but the driver ran him over. The driver of the vehicle, Manoj Gurjar, has been arrested and charged with murder. Police suspect the involvement of a local mining mafia in the incident. Senior police official DP Gupta...

Women and impoverished, illiterate tribals fall prey to Madhya Pradesh’s overweening family planning zeal Birth Control 1951 Family planning as a policy is launched in independent India 1978 Rechristened Family Welfare after the emergency 2000 National Population Policy aims at stable population by 2045 2010 Madhya Pradesh launches targeted family planning NPP says sterilisation should be last resort in family planning. *** When Shyam Lal* walked into a primary health centre at Rewa, a dusty little town in...

-The Economic Times Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday assured industry that the Centre is making renewed efforts to open up foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, despite Uttar Pradesh (UP) election results where the winning Samajwadi Party has opposed FDI in retail in its manifesto.  Singh told a delegate of senior members of industry body Assocham that the Centre is taking fresh efforts to evolve consensus amongst the various stakeholders on...