-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: An application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act filed with the state police by a city-based group revealed that in 95 per cent of the total cases of crime against women between 2001 and 2009, the investigation is either pending with the courts or is abandoned due to lack of any further leads. Citizen Resource and Action Initiative (CRANTI) had filed an RTI in 2009 with...

-The Times of India SHIMLA: Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh's interest in buying LIC policies bear an interesting pattern over the past 10 years. These policies are at the heart of a controversy with allegations of money laundering levelled against him by the BJP. Before the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the 78-year-old state Congress chief had only two LIC policies for himself, each with a premium barely one-hundredth of that...

-The Hindu Caste and religion are also key factors while renting wombs: study Beautiful and fair — words traditionally synonymous with brides — are being used for renting a womb. For, not only are “healthy, beautiful, fair and higher caste or Brahmin’’ surrogates in great demand, they also receive good payment in cash and kind from the commissioning parents after delivery. Doctors and agents have confirmed — in a study by Sama, a...

-The Hindu The local community, especially men, have been roped into a project in 22 Maharashtra villages to stop female foeticide and discrimination against the girl child In India, the irony never ceases. While the country venerates several female deities of wealth, learning and valour, it also practises blatant discrimination against the girl child. Going by statistics revealed by the census and various government as well as independent studies, it has been...

-Live Mint The prime source of financing will be from general taxation or public exchequer, says Planning Commission Government-run hospitals may stop charging for primary services such as investigative tests as India attempts to provide universal health coverage to all its citizens. “No fee of any kind would be levied on primary healthcare services with the prime source of financing being from general taxation/public exchequer,” the Planning Commission says in its latest health...