-CivilSocietyOnline.com Kozhikode: Dubai's agriCulture minister recently chartered a flight to Kozhikode and, accompanied by a hortiCulture consultant, headed to the AgriCulture Research Station (ARS) at Anakkayam nearby. There the minister, Abdulla Jassim Abdulla M Almarzooqi, placed orders for fruits, spices and ornamental plants. But on his mind was something bigger. He offered free visas and air tickets to the 100 members of the research station's agricultural army, which rather grandly goes...

-The United Nations Violence against children often goes unseen, unheard and unreported the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said today, launching a new initiative urging the international community to speak out more forcefully against the scourge, which leaves millions of girls and boys physically and emotionally scarred every year. "In every country, in every Culture, there is violence against children," said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. "Whenever and wherever children are harmed,...

-The Times of India BHAWANIPATNA: Vedanta Aluminium Ltd's plan to mine Niyamgiri hills got dashed on Monday with the seventh gram sabha opposing the move. The Supreme Court had ordered gram sabhas to vote on bauxite mining in the hills. All six gram sabhas - three in Kalahandi district and three in Rayagada - rejected the proposal. There will be five more such meets, but the result is clear: the tribal...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court's timidity in dealing with the law on prior sanction for prosecuting public servants has offered protection to the murderous and the corrupt While the encounter murders in Pathribal and their cover up are yet another blot on India's record in Kashmir, the legal issues they raise on accountability to the law affect the entire country. They touch the very core of the rule of law that is...

-The Indian Express Panchayat elections in West Bengal frame the same old politics of coercion and intimidation As always, panchayat polls in West Bengal have left a trail of violence across the state. At least five people were killed as the polls entered their fourth phase on Monday, taking the total toll in these elections into double digits. For a state that is said to have gone through poriborton two years ago,...