Here are some important reports from the biggest newspapers of India:
Jayalalithaa tattoo ‘forced’ on girl, complaint sent to NHRC
A Chennai-based rights organisation Tuesday wrote to the NHRC seeking action against AIADMK leaders for allegedly allowing a girl to be forced into getting a tattoo of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa during her birthday celebrations on February 23.
Quoting media reports, the petition by ‘Change India’ alleged that the incident, perpetrated by AIADMK cadres, happened in the presence of several ministers, including O Panneerselvam. The Indian Express reported that it also asked the government to draw up guidelines to prevent exploitation of children in the garb of political functions.
Government sets up expert panel to find Saraswati river
Continuing with its efforts to find the mythical Saraswati river, the government has decided to constitute an expert committee to review the available information from studies already conducted in Haryana and Rajasthan.
Prof K S Valdiya, a former vice-chancellor of the Kumaon University, Nainital, has been named the head of the expert committee. Other members are still being finalised, reported The Indian Express.
Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati said previous studies by academics and the National Remote Sensing Agency had indicated the presence of a river in the area. The Valdiya committee is expected to assess whether these signs are indeed that of the Saraswati river or something else.
Award for babus for success of PM's pet projects
From this year, excellence in administering Prime Minister Narendra Modi's priority programmes such as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana or Soil Health Card scheme could fetch bureaucrats an award from the PM himself, as reported by The Economic Times.
Bureaucrats who have ensured reduction in zero balance accounts under the Jan-Dhan Yojana or whose districts saw improvement in attendance of girls due to construction of toilets under Swachh schools programme could be the front runners for bagging such awards, as per the criteria spelt out by the government.
The main criteria include efficient and corruption-free implementation of the priority programmes.
Muslims a poor lot in Mamata land: Amartya's report
Even as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee says that her government has already completed 99 per cent work for the development of the minorities in the state, a recent report titled as `Living Reality of Muslims in West Bengal', coproduced by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's Pratichi Institute and Association SNAP , claims otherwise. The report, released by Amartya Sen some days back in Kolkata, suggests that “Muslims in West Bengal are economically more deprived than others since, unlike in most other states, proportionately more Muslims reside in rural West Bengal compared to the general rural population.“
In a shocking revelation, the report says, only 1 per cent households are fortunate to have salaried jobs in the private sector as their main source of income. To add to the misery, the report further states, about 47 per cent of all Muslims in rural Bengal, who work, belong to the category of agricultural and non-agricultural labour. Reports The Economic Times.
SC: Why not test lawyers before they get licence?
The Supreme Court mooted on Tuesday an idea to have an entrance test for law graduates before they are enrolled into bar council sand get a licence to practice.
The suggestion was prompted by worries over fake advocates and ‘falling standards’ in the fraternity, reports The Hindustan Times.
A bench headed by chief justice TS Thakur strongly disapproved of the existing system under which the BCI, the apex disciplinary body for lawyers, holds an exam after a law graduate gets registered. The bench was of the view that once a person gets the right to practice, it cannot be curtailed later in the name of an entrance test.
Rs 120-a-month therapy gives breast cancer patients hope
A combination of anti-diabetic and chemotherapy drugs, costing less than Rs 120 a month, has improved survival rates by a significant 40% in a section of breast cancer patients, reported The Times of India.
A pilot study by Tata Memorial Hospital has brought hope to patients of triple negative breast cancer, who had no affordable options to prevent a relapse so far. Around 33% of breast cancers at the Tata Hospital are triple negative. This form of cancer affects younger women more and often can be difficult to treat.
Mumbai: Manipuri woman spat on, kicked, dragged by hair and molested
A 26-year-old girl from Manipur was assaulted, molested, kicked and dragged by her hair in Santacruz in public.
According to Mid-Day, she found no sympathy or assistance from onlookers or even the local police, who ignored her request for an FIR and merely registered a non-cognisable offence.
Even in that complaint, the officer on duty made no mention of molestation, even though she showed him her torn clothes.
Forensics can’t find human remains: Only 4 Pathankot attackers confirmed
Forensic investigators have failed to find human bone or tooth fragments in a charred mass claimed to be the remains of a terrorist killed by the National Security Guard (NSG) during the Jaish-e-Muhammad strike on the Pathankot airbase, official sources have told The Indian Express.
The absence of this material means that DNA evidence is unlikely to settle the debate over whether four terrorists were involved in the attack on Pathankot, as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) believe, or six, as the NSG claimed.
New Delhi had hoped the DNA evidence would be available ahead of a visit by a special investigation team that Pakistan has set up to investigate the Pathankot attack. The team is expected to conclude its investigation inside Pakistan by the weekend, Pakistani media have reported.
Schoolkids flirt with 'Mary Jane'
Is there an increase in the number of people getting addicted to marijuana in Delhi? While there is lack of data to prove this, psychologists at city's top hospitals are convinced that not only there is an increase in number of users of this banned drug but the age of initiation of this habit has also advanced.
According to a report in The Times of India, doctors say school students, from 11 to 15 years, are smoking marijuana and are often rushed to them for counselling or treatment in case of severe side-effects such as panic attack, restlessness or euphoria.
Now, majority of families have 2 or less kids
For the first time in the country's recorded history, more than half the families do not have more than two children, according to Census 2011 data released on Monday.
About 54% married women reported having two or less children, significantly up from the 46.6% two-or-less children mothers counted by the previous Census in 2001, reflecting a pan-India desire for smaller families.
There were about 34 crore married women who had about 92 crore children in 2011: an average of about 2.69 children per married woman. In 2001, the corresponding figures were 27 crore married women having 83 crore children at an average of 3.03 children per woman. The dip in the average number of women is the sharpest compared to earlier decades, reported The Times of India.
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