THERE has been a manifold increase in the number of reported cases of sexual assaults against girls and women with disabilities. Considered as soft targets, disabled girls and women are more vulnerable to sexual assaults. While specific provisions are contained in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act as well as the amendments to the criminal laws post Verma Committee with regard to disabled girls and women, it is a matter of grave concern that provisions contained therein are not implemented at all or are not implemented in full.

ON September 16, 2015, seven months after the dastardly murder of senior CPI leader Govind Pansare in February, and just a fortnight after the similar murder of prominent intellectual Prof M M Kalburgi, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra arrested three ‘Hindutva’-minded fanatics of a thoroughly communal organisation called ‘Sanatan Sanstha’, while a fourth one called Rudra Patil is absconding.Actually, the Sanatan Sanstha was very much on the radar of the police investigation immediately after the murder of Pansare.

RESERVE Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has surprised all by a “bold” 50 basis points (or half a percentage point) reduction in policy (interest) rates. The interest rate payable on borrowing by banks from the RBI (or the repo rate) has been brought down to 6.75 percent and the interest rate banks get when they hold deposits with the RBI (or the reverse repo rate) has been reduced to 5.75 percent. The idea is not merely to reduce interest rates charged to borrowers, but to push banks into lending more rather than holding large cash reserves.

JUST in time for Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the US, the cabinet approved the much earlier declared yet long-pending Indian acquisition of 22 Apache AH- 64E attack helicopters and 15 Chinook CH-47F heavy lift copters, both made by Boeing, with an option for 11 more Apaches and 7 more Chinooks, at a total cost of $3.1 billion (Rs 1900 crores).

THE communal violence incidents in the last week of September had created a sense of insecurity among people of Ranchi and other districts. On the festive occasion, incidents where meat was allegedly thrown outside places of worship in different places of Ranchi and some districts took place. These incidents are a part of planned conspiracy. They are not done by some mischievous groups but they are part of efforts for creating communal polarisation by organised communal forces.